How To Carry On
by Leah992
Summary: Picking up where JK left off, just after the battle of Hogwarts. Harry and the gang are trying to figure out how to carry on after all that they've lost, but a couple of mysteries, the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor and Harry's training as an Auror will be there to offer welcome distraction.
1. The Swallows

**Chapter 1: The Swallows  
**

Harry lay in his bed, listening to the house creaking around him. Although the last week had left him emotionally exhausted, Harry had spent the whole night watching the shadows change as the Moon gave way to the morning. The sun started to rise and Harry found small comfort knowing that the ordeal was nearly over.

Today was the last funeral.

Harry felt strangely empty, as though he simply didn't have enough energy to grieve. The week had been long and arduous, starting with a beautiful Monday morning, when Harry had helped bury Lupin and Tonks.

On a secluded hill, a few miles from Andromada's house, Harry and Ron had held their wands aloft, to place the young couple side by side, hand in hand, in the ground. It had been decided that Teddy should have the chance to grow up with his parents nearby, so he could visit them whenever he liked. Harry felt that Lupin would have wanted to be close to his son.

Teddy had slept through the whole service, nestled in the relative warmth of his Godfathers' arms. He opened his eyes once when Dromada had placed a single rose on his Parents joint grave.

Tuesday had been Mad-eye's memorial service, the first chance they had had to openly morn his death. They couldn't bury him as no one had ever recovered the body, but they all sat in a dingy pub afterwards and shared stories of him.

Wednesday had been the cremation service of a 5th year Ravenclaw girl who had sacrificed herself to save Neville and Luna, who had risked their own lives as the leaders of the resistance inside the castle over that year. The parents had asked Harry to be there. "What she would have wanted" they had said.

Thursday had been Colin Creavey. Harry sat next to Nigel Wolport, as Denis gave a brief, tearful eulogy about his big brother. His parents talked about how proud they were that Colin had died for something he had believed in, a comment that caused a few strange looks from the Muggles present. Harry had been one of the pole bearers, along with Denis, Nigel and Mr Creavey.

As he walked out of the church Harry was suddenly struck by how small the coffin was, much smaller, he was sure, than Colin had been in life. Harry's eyes had burned furiously as he thought of how tiny Colin had been in death.

The wake had been easier. After all the muggle relatives left; Harry, Neville, Denis and Mr and Mrs Creavey looked through a shoe box of all of Collin's pictures. There were so many of Harry! All through his second year, his Quiditch matches, Harry in the dining hall, Harry in the common room. Denis managed to dig out an envelope marked "Down with Umbridge!" inside which were many pictures of their DA meetings. Harry couldn't even remember Colin bringing his camera! But there they were, flying across the room into piles of cushions. Neville found a picture of the first time he had successfully performed a disarming spell. Over and over, Neville disarmed Hermione, gaped on in shock before being surrounded and cheered on by the rest of the DA.

And now it was Friday, which meant Fred's funeral and once again Harry felt the numb grief that had plagued him since the battle of Hogwarts. The week had been filled with too much grief and pain. Harry both craved and dreaded for ordeal to be over.

Over the week Harry had been staying with the Weasleys in the burrow. It had been a strange experience being out of the house all day and only returning at night, almost as strange as thinking that he would never again hear Mrs Weasley shouting at Fred for winding up Ron, or leaving a fake wand lying around. Mr Weasley, Bill and Charlie were helping Kingsley, who was now the acting Minister for Magic, search out the last of Voldermort's supporters and all those under the imperious charm in the Ministry. It was a task that had broken Charlie's nose twice, locked Bill in a ministry cupboard for 12 hours and had kept Mr Weasley from the house for nearly the whole week.

Harry hadn't seen much of Ron and Ginny either, as they had been helping Mrs Weasley organize the funeral for Fred. George on the other hand had been in the house the whole time, but had disappeared into his room and hadn't been seen for days.

Hermione had only managed to send one Owl since the battle. She was currently attempting to relocate her parents who, as it turned out, had moved to Australia.  
In fact the only person who Harry had really spoken with over the last few weeks had been Neville. After taking over Dumbledore's Army in Hogwarts during the war, he had been both the leader and protector of all those who chose to fight Voldemort's control in Hogwarts. Harry knew that Neville felt partly responsible for the deaths of those students who had followed him into the fight during the battle of Hogwarts, a sentiment Harry understood all too well.

Harry stared at the ceiling, faintly lit by the pre-dawn glow. He could tell, by the lack of snoring, that Ron was also awake, but Harry didn't say anything. They had barely talked these last few days. More often than not they would both retreat to Ron's room together and lie on their separate beds in silence.

It wasn't like the usual bouts of their cease of communication with each other. Rather than being angry, they both craved the company of one another. Harry and Ron both knew that they would not be forced to pretend that they were coping when they were with each other. They both needed to be with each other. They both were dealing with their grief in the same way and needed to be with the only other person who understood. Hermione was great at understanding their emotions, sometimes better than they could themselves, but what Harry and Ron needed was time to come to terms with what they had lost.

Despite the fact they had barely spoken 2 word to each other since arriving at the burrow, Harry felt that the two of them were closer than ever.

As the shadows cast by the rising sun started to creep across Harry's bed, Ron asked quietly "Breakfast?"

Harry rolled out of bed as his response.

The two best friends both rose and donned their dressing gowns, before creeping down the stairs into the kitchen.

The whole of downstairs had been transformed the previous evening. The usual joyful clutter of mayhem had been transformed into a stark empty space. The table that usually sat right in the middle of the kitchen was now pushed up against the wall, plates and cutlery laid out ready for the wake. On a table placed in-between the living area and the kitchen were a vast array of pictures of Fred and George. Mrs Weasley had struggled to find a single picture of Fred without his twin and when she had occasionally came across one of them alone she hadn't been able to tell which one it was.

Ron dug around in the larder before emerging with some bacon and bread. Harry cooked the bacon in silence wile Ron buttered bread and made two mugs of tea. Once they had made their breakfast, Ron headed into the garden and Harry followed. They sat on the low wall surrounding the Burrow and watched in silence as a Gnome tried to sneak back into the garden through a break in the stones.

It was about 6 o'clock in the morning when Hermione Apparated next to them, causing Ron to fall off the wall, spilling his cold tea all down himself. Harry smiled at the both of them.

"You two are up early." She quipped as she smiled down at Ron.

"So are you!" Ron retorted as he pulled himself to his feet.

Hermione held out her hand and helped him over the wall. "Well maybe I wanted to spend some time with my beloved boyfriend."

Ron grunted, a smile pulling at his mouth, and muttered "Come on. I'll make you some breakfast."

Harry noticed, as Ron walked back to the house hand in hand with Hermione, that Ron's ears were gradually turning their usual shade of red.

About half an hour later the back door opened and Ginny walked out of the house. Looking up at her, Harry's breath caught in his throat.

Ginny was wearing a knee length pale yellow dress that was giving Harry heart palpitations. The material flowed in all directions from a line of Knut sized Lilac stones from just under her bust to around her navel. Two petal shapes spread from the line of stones across her chest thinning up to her shoulders. Her vibrant red hair was pulled up into a lose bun, tendrils of scarlet falling down to frame her face. She looked so beautiful.

As she turned to sit next to Harry, he saw that the petals knotted at the back of her neck and two long strips, studded with thin flowing lines of the same Lilac stone, fell down past the low v-shaped back and sat just above the curve of her behind, showing a lot of smooth pale skin. She sat next to Harry on the wall and rested her head on his shoulder. Their fingers entwined without any conscience thought, as Harry lent his head on top of hers.

"You look amazing." He said quietly.

Ginny shook with a silent laugh. "Fred would have killed me if I had worn black. He bought this for me and said I should wear it at the victory party once we 'kicked Voldy's ass'."

Harry ran his thumb along her index finger, marveling at the smoothness of her skin.

They sat in silence for a while, simply enjoying each other's presence, until a red eyed Mrs Weasley rushed into the Garden. Her eyes lit up briefly at the sight of the two of them sat there, before the familiar look of inconsolable grief flooded back in.

"Harry dear, you really should go and get changed. All the family needs to be at the church by eight to be ready to meet everyone."

Harry, not missing his inclusion in 'all of the family', smiled and rose from his seat. He and Ginny walked into the house, still holding hands.

Everyone was gathered in silence in the kitchen. George was wearing his Green Dragon scale suit. He was drifting around the room leaving scraps of parchment on every surface, under plates and behind pillows. He even hid one in the curtains.

Mr Weasley, Bill and Charlie were standing in the kitchen drinking tea, not talking. Mr Weasley was watching George very carefully, a frown pulling at his lips. The house was unbearably quiet.

Harry kissed Ginny gently on the check before disappearing upstairs. He passed Percy on the way. He was sat on the top step, in his black dress robes, his face pale, huge bags under his eyes. Clutched to his chest was one of the fake wands Fred and George had created, and pinned to his chest was his old Prefect badge that Fred had bewitched to read "Prat". Percy's blank gaze didn't move as Harry passed.

Ron was in his room wrestling into his dress robes. He glared at Harry when he walked in. "They're too big for me!" he mumbled accusingly at Harry.

Harry grinned. "And that is my fault, how?"

Ron's glare lost some of its power as the corners of his mouth started to twitch. "It's your fault because you didn't think to bring a chef with you when we were Horcrux hunting!"

Harry hung his head in mock shame. "I'm sorry Ron. I should have remembered how important you're extra stuffing is. Next time I will bring a chef."

"Damn straight!" Ron responded, grinning briefly.

Once Harry and Ron were dressed, Harry in his bottle green robes and Ron in the Royal Blue ones that Fred and George had bought him years ago, Harry headed towards the door. Ron put a hand on his shoulder stopping him.

"George says we have to wear those." He pointed to two white flowers lying on Ron's bed. They looked like small elongated lily's.

Harry picked one up and used a sticking charm to pin it to his robes, just over his heart. Ron did the same.

Harry was about to leave when Ron stopped him again with a hand on his shoulder.

Ron looked very awkward, his ears turning red once more, and it took him a few tries to find his voice.

"I just wanted to say, mate... That er... I'm glad you're here."

Harry stared back at his best friend, his throat suddenly burning uncomfortably. "Erm... you're welcome Ron. I er... I wanted to be here. You know?"

"Yeah." Ron responded, nodding gravely. "You've made it easier. For me I mean."

Harry nodded back. "Me too, mate."

They pulled each other into a brief hug.

"You two are hopeless." Hermione's voice muttered a little hoarsely from just outside the open door. She strode into the room and throw her arms around the both of them. When she pulled away her bottom lip was shaking just a little.

Ron stepped back and looked at the ground. His eyes widened and very slowly he looked back up as he took Hermione's appearance in. His ears were getting to a dangerous shade of red.

Hermione was wearing a simple sleeveless lilac floor length dress with a pale yellow sash around her waist that tied at the back and fell to the floor. She had straightened her bushy hair so it fell in gentle waves past her shoulders.

Ron stuttered "Where'd you get that dress from?"

Hermione smiled sadly. "Fred and George got it for me. Fred said he wanted Ginny and I to match at the victory party when we defeated Voldermort. I decided to wear it today for him."

When the trio finally got downstairs, everyone was waiting in the kitchen. Mrs Weasley had now joined Mr Weasley in shooting worried looks at George, who was now staring out of the window, a slightly manic grin on his face, his eyes glinting with a desperate crazed look.

Kingsley arrived at half past seven with Professor McGonagall. This cued everyone to make their way down to the church.

Kingsley was wearing a colorful long robe that looked like it might be some sort of traditional African garb. Around his throat was a long wooden chain with different colored stones dangling down. He was walking with Mr Weasley, Charlie and Bill, McGonagall strolling arm in arm with Mrs Weasley. Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny walked altogether, with George trailing just behind. Somewhere far behind them, Percy was following, still clutching the fake wand.

The Church in the village was tiny, so the service was being held outside in the graveyard to accommodate for the relatively large mourning party that would be attending.

Mrs Weasley left Harry, Ron, Bill and Charlie at the entrance to the small Chapel to direct mourners when they arrived. After a valiant attempt at barking orders to them in her usual fashion, she then walked off, into the Chapel and up to the alter to stand beside George. They both stared at the long wooden box that was sat upon a mountain of flowers.

There were so many varieties of Lilies, Roses, Daises and every other flower under the sun, each one a different color, that Harry was sure that no two were the same. The coffin's lid was open, showing a vivid purple plush lining, gently supporting Fred's perfectly still body. In one of his hands, so delicately folded across his chest, was his wand. In the other was his beater club. His vivid red hair clashed so magnificently with both the army of flowers and his Green Dragon-scale suit that Harry couldn't help but smile.

But Harry suddenly stopped smiling, as what little of George's composer that was left snapped, and he threw himself at the foot of the flower pyre. Bill flinched at the sound of George's sobs, and closed the door, his eye glistening. Before the door closed, Harry caught one last glimpse of Fred. Pain lanced his heart and his lungs constricted as he stared at the ghost of Fred's last laugh.

Charlie clasped his brother's shoulder, and Bill clung to Charlie's forearm. For a few moments they stood like that, heads bowed, each leaning on the other, till Bill threw back his head and blinked rapidly at the sky, taking a shuddering deep breath. Bill gently threw off Charlie's reassuring hand and rubbed his own arm across his eyes. Looking around the relatively empty street, Bill nudged his brother in the ribs.

His voice thick, he said "Hey Charlie. There's a pretty lady."

Bill nodded across the road where a young dark haired woman was walking in front of a small cottage, covertly peeking through the curtains into the house. She looked to be in her mid-twenties and was, as Bill had pointed out, quite beautiful. Her long face was too sharp to be pretty, her cheek bones too defined, but her large blue eyes added a softness that made the whole effect quite lovely. Her long shining hair, which seemed to be such a dark shade of red that it was very nearly black, fell straight down past her breasts and flowed in the wind behind her. She wore a pair of low cut skinny jeans and a particularly short baggy vest top that left a lot of midriff bare. Harry thought he could see the tip of a dark tattoo poking out from the bottom of her shirt, but she was too far away for him to make it out.

Charlie examined her briefly then shook his head as if to clear it.

"Dude..." He said simply.

Bill grinned and held up his hands. "Hey! You know all Fred ever wanted you to do was find a woman! Always wanted Nephews and Nieces learning to ride Dragons."

Charlie tried to remain serious but was rapidly losing control of his scowl. "I am not picking up a woman at his funeral!"

Ron grinned at his big brother. "Fair play Charlie, it's what he would have wanted."

Bill and Ron both placed a hand on Charlie's back and roughly pushed him onto the road, towards the woman.

Turning only to pull a face at the three of them, Charlie sauntered over to the woman.

Harry nudged Ron, slightly confused. "Has Charlie ever had a girlfriend?"

Ron blinked at him in surprise. "Oh masses. He had loads of girlfriends in school. But then he found his true love..."

"Who?"

Bill grinned. "Dragons!"

Harry looked back across the road where Charlie had just caught up to the woman. He was whispering something in her ear. Suddenly she threw back her head and roared with laughter. She kissed Charlie quickly on the cheek, said something to him, and then walked off, still laughing.

"What she say?" Quizzed Ron as soon as Charlie arrived back.

"Well..." he said rubbing the spot she had kissed, "I asked her if she liked magic and if she would like to see some of my wand work. She laughed, kissed me and said it was the best pick up line she'd ever heard. Then she walked off..." He looked after, amused frustration written across his face.

Bill clapped him on the shoulder consolingly. "Maybe Fred was right. I guess only Dragons are attracted to you."

Harry and Ron laughed.

* * *

Harry peaked out of the church doors to the small stage laid by the grave, where Professor Mcgonagall was looking out across the sea of guests. Harry was pretty sure that everyone who had ever met Fred and Geroge were gathered in that graveyard. Alicia Spinnet had turned up supporting a teary Angelina Johnson, who had been a great friend to, and even briefly dated, Fred. They were soon followed by a very pale and red eyed Lee Jordan, who was wearing robes the brightest shade of orange Harry had ever seen. Over the morning Harry seated Professor Flitwick, Dean Thomas and a still rather battered looking Seamus Finnegan, Oliver Wood, Penelope Clearwater and a sniffling Hagrid, who was once again wearing his hideous furry suit.

All of the one hundred chairs had been filled with well over another hundred standing opposite them.

With a small nod in Harry's direction way back at the back entrance to the chapel, McGonagall signalled the start of the service.

Harry, along with Ron, Bill, Charlie, Percy and George, pointed their wands at the coffin and muttered "Levicorpus".

Lid now closed, Fred's coffin rose into the air and hovered above them. Then, in step, they all marched slowly out into the graveyard.

Hagrid, who was towering over Professor McGonagall despite the fact that he was sat down, started to play a gently mournful tune on the small wooden flute he had brought with him.

The crowd of mourners moved to create a path to let the six wand bearers through. Ahead of him Harry could see the mass of seated people waiting the other side of the soul sucking hole in the ground and the mound of earth beside it.

Suddenly his chest constricted so much that he couldn't breathe. His field of vision blurred, and he blinked furiously to clear it. Through the fog of his tears Harry spotted Ginny, sat beside her weeping mother, holding her hand tightly. Harry fixed his eyes on her and willed himself forward, forward through the blinding grief towards her, towards his wonderful, strong, beautiful Ginny.

It could have been minutes or hours, Harry couldn't tell. All that existed in the universe for those few moments was the crushing pain he held aloft above him and those warm brown eyes.

In unison with the others, Harry lowered his wand and rested the coffin next to the looming hole in the ground.

Once Harry and the others had stepped back to stand at the front of the crowd, McGonagall began to speak.

"There have been too many funerals this week. Too many final goodbyes. Too much grief."

She looked across the crowd gathered around the grave. She looked regal, dressed in a pair of Emerald robes that sparkled in the sun. Having discarded her usual tall pointed hat, Professor McGonagall instead wore a white lily, like the ones Harry and the rest of the polebarers wore, on the side of her tight bun, an item that was uncharacteristically frilly and girly for her.

"In the aftermath of a war," she continued "it is easy to forget what we were fighting for in the first place. Even during a war, losses start to take their toll. But it's when the dust has settled, the enemy defeated and the fight won, you start to count the bodies. Its then that you truly realize what is the cost of freedom, the cost of life. You begin to wonder if anything could have been worth the loss of so many."

The graveyard was completely silent, except for the quiet sobs of Mrs Weasley.

McGonagall raised herself to her full and considerable height and spoke in a clear and carrying voice.

"Fred Weasley never forgot what he was fighting for. He never doubted his convictions, never questioned his friends, and never paused in his fight. He knew with every fibre of his being that fighting against Lord Voldemort was right, and threw himself headlong into the war, for the sake of others."

She paused, staring down at the long wooden coffin, smiling. Gently touching the flower in her hair she continued.

"Fred was not only a person of considerable moral strength, but also one of exceptional skill. The flower I'm wearing in my hair, has grown from a plant that is threatening to take over the whole east wing of Hogwarts, where Fred and his brother once set off a portable swam of their own design, during the tyranny of Dolorous Umbridge's reign. Never have I seen such exceptional magic as that. A wonderful creation of life, born in a moment of laughter..." McGonagall stopped and swallowed.

Hermione took one look at Professor McGonagall's crack in composer, and burst into tears.

After a few seconds McGonagall carried on.

"He was never the model student, nor did he ever try to be. Fred walked the thin line separating mischief and real trouble, but he always knew where and when to step over that line. Although a prankster through and through, he was never inconsiderate. He cared deeply for others, especially his brother. He would have walked through the seven circles of hell if it meant he could help a friend. I shall always treasure my memories of Fred, even if most of them are from his detentions with me."

There was a quiet snort of laughter from Lee Jordan, and a general grin across the mourners. Pulling a scrap of paper from her pocket, McGonagall spoke again.

"The poem I am about to read was left in an envelope by a muggle soldier, and was given to his parents after his death in the muggle Great War. I believe it is appropriate to read it now, after the death of a young man who was a great soldier, and so much more as well."

Harry looked up at the sky, trying to maintain his composure. This funeral was so much harder than the others. Even Lupin's had been easier than this. At least with Lupin he had had the chance to say goodbye to him in the forbidden forest.

Harry was pulled from his memories by two Swallows that were flirting around each other in the sky above them, dipping, souring and diving, chirping quietly. Harry watched them dart around the vast blue sky and waited for McGonagall to begin.

She took a quiet shuddering breath and read the poem quietly.

" _Do not stand at my grave and weep. I am not there. I do not sleep._ "

The Swallows darted towards the ground before soaring into the sky again, almost in complete unison, a gentle dance of two. Harry wondered idly if the two were mates. A gentle breeze picked up and rustled the trees around the graveyard, sending three more Swallows into the air.

" _I am a thousand winds that blow. I am the diamond glints on snow._  
 _I am the sunlight on ripened grain. I am the gentle autumn rain._ "

Harry thought of the not so gentle rain that Fred, George and he had spent so many times training in over the years. While he grinned up at the Swallows weaving their intricate dance above them all, he thought of the abuse Fred would hurl at Oliver, and later Angelina for keeping him out in the rain. One of the Swallows broke out of the dance and started to weave its way high into the sky and away from the grave yard.

" _When you awaken in the morning's hush I am the swift uplifting rush_  
 _of quiet birds in circled flight. I am the soft stars that shine at night._ "

Some part of Harry's mind registered that Ron was shaking with quiet sobs beside him, and that Harry had placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. It was probably the same part that realized that a tear was trickling down his face, but Harry didn't care. He was lost in his memories, every moment he'd spent with Fred.

" _Do not stand at my grave and cry. I am not there. I did not die._ " McGonagall's voice was horse as she finished.

The Swallows darted high into the air and soared off, above and to beyond the graveyard. Ron placed his hand over Harry's, clinging to it, desperately trying to stop his tears. But Harry just stared at the disappearing Swallows, letting his tears dry on his face, and said a quiet goodbye to Fred.

* * *

Thereyou go folks. My first chapter of a new series and there will be more to come! i promise I will actually finish this one...

Please review!

All hail Queen Jo. xx


	2. Fireworks

**Chapter 2: Fireworks**

Harry sat in the corner of the burrow, watching awkwardly as Ginny and Katie Bell comforted a sobbing Angelina Johnson.

Alicia Spinnet, Angelina's companion for the funeral, had left quite early with an upset Oliver Wood, leaving an abandoned, unintentionally Harry was sure, and very delicate Angelina.

Fred's old girlfriend had done very well for the first hour, smiling with Mr and Mrs Weasley, gently hugging a shuddering George, and sharing memories with one of Fred's cousins. But then, while picking up a plate to get some food from the buffet, she found one of the slips of paper George had been hiding that morning. She stared at the slip for about 10 seconds before bursting into tears.

Ginny and Katie had exchanged a single look, communicating silently in that way only girls can, and proceeded to each grasp one of Angelina's arms and guide her gently to a quiet corner of the burrow. Harry had been still holding Ginny's hand when she had rushed to Angelina's rescue, so he had been dragged unceremoniously along.

After much comforting, a process that seemed to contain a lot of pats on the back, reassuring squeezes and a strange cooing noise from both the girls, Angelina calmed down enough to hold out a shuddering hand, in which was still clasping the slip of paper. Katie took the offending item from her and read.

A broad grin slowly spread across her face. Katie passed it to Ginny who read it and giggled. Bemused, Harry took the slip and read the small message George had scribbled upon it.

" _That time we snuck into Angelina's office and replaced her broom polish with refined Dragon Dung._ "

He blinked up and Angelina who was trying to speak through her sobs.

"Fred dis... distracted me... after that training session." She sniffed loudly.

"You know the one where... where they r... ruptured those boils. Well they got back by... by playing that prank... on me."

She hiccuped, smiled weakly and tried to steam her tears.

"I just miss him so... so much." Her lip trembled dangerously and her eyes filled with tears again. Sensing another outburst, Ginny put a reassuring hand on Angelina's arm.

"Angelina, would Fred really have wanted to have made you cry with that joke?"

Angelina took a deep shuddering breath and murmured a negative.

Ginny smiled. "George just wanted people to laugh at the memory, that's all. It's to help people smile, not cry."

Dean Thomas chose that moment, much to Harry's relief, to come over and present Harry with another slip of paper, grinning widely. Harry eyed the slip before taking it.

" _The time we turned Ron's teddy bear into a giant tarantula. He's now terrified of spiders._ "

"Did they really do that?" Dean was shaking with suppressed laughter.

Harry grinned. "Yeah. Ron told me in our second year."

Five minutes later Harry, Ron, Ginny, Angelina, Katie, Hermione, Dean and Seamus were sat in a circle on the floor with a small pile of the recollections of Fred and George's greatest pranks in front of each of them.

They took turns to read out each prank, laughing at each, amazed at the sheer quantity of mayhem that the twins had achieved during their time in Hogwarts.

" _The time we convinced Peeves to chase Snape around with a bottle of shampoo... The time we cast permanent sticking charms to Filches shoes while he was napping in a corridor... The time we sent Harry a toilet seat when he was in the hospital wing... The time we locked Montague in the vanishing cabinet.._."  
Seamus laughed, then winced (his bruises from his last year in Hogwarts still caused him a lot of pain) as he read his next prank.

"The time, during an episode of "Potter Watch", we set Lee's papers on fire."

Angelina and Katie burst out laughing, practically rolling on the floor.

"I remember that!" cried Katie. "Lee swore, threw them at Lupin and set his robes on fire. We heard the whole thing over the radio!"

Hermione read hers and let out a bark of laughter. She shot slightly guilty looks at Harry and Ginny before reading out " _The time we sent Harry a Valentines singing dwarf and convinced him that it was from Ginny and she had written the poem herself. She didn't._ "

"What?!" Gasped Harry half laughing, half mortified, as he remembered being accosted on the way to charms in his second year, supposedly organised by Ginny, which had made him avoid her eyes for weeks. Ginny clapped her hands over her mouth, hiding her grin as she slowly turned red. Seamus was laughing so hard, he rolled onto his back.

"That... explains... this one." he gasped, picking up a slip he had discarded earlier.

" _The time we lied to Harry about us sending him a Singing Valentine Dwarf. It was Ginny. She was obsessed with him. Pranking from the grave. We are good..._ "

Harry glanced at Ginny's scarlet face, and after a moment's silence they both burst out laughing. Harry leaned forward, still laughing, and prised Ginny's hands from her grinning mouth. Giving her a gentle tug, he pulled her across the circle and onto his lap. And as they both giggled uncontrollably, Harry pressed his mouth to hers and kissed her lovingly.

"Oh get a room you two!" Ron muttered before Hermione jumped him, and he disappeared under her giggling form.

The group of them passed the rest of the wake reading these comments. Unknown to them, they had gathered quite a crowd. Mr and Mrs Weasley had settled on a sofa nearby, listening and smiling as Mrs Weasley snuggled deeper into the warm embrace of her husband's arms. Professor McGonagall was perched on a seat behind Hermione, her tight lips pursed, laughter in her the lines of her face, as she snorted at each one of the small confessions, eyes filled with memories. Kingsley stood leaning against a wall, eyes closed, arms folded. He could have been asleep if not for the occasional smile that flashed across his face. He stood there, as immobile as a statue, looking almost peaceful. The stress of the last week eradicated from his face. Harry thought, once he had noticed the crowd of mourners who were watching the group, that Kingsley looked much younger than he had in a long while.

Gradually the group dispersed as they noticed the crowd, and as the young men and women moved away the other mourners moved in, picking up the discarded slips and reading for themselves.

George was nowhere in sight.

It was dark by the time everyone left the house. Ephias Doge left saying that it had been one of the best celebrations of life he had ever seen. Hagrid wondered out into the dark, slips of paper falling from his overstuffed pockets, leaving a trial. Kingsley and Professor McGonagall left together, taking a detour to the orchard with Bill, Ron and Mrs Weasley to see where Fred learnt his admirable Quiditch skills.

Harry was in the living room, chatting amicably with Charlie. Mr Weasley was snoring gently in a comfy armchair in the corner. Hermione was still sifting through a pile of Fred's greatest pranks, and Ginny was asleep, stretched out on the sofa next to Harry, her head in his lap.

He ran his fingers through her long silky red hair while he listened to Charlie talk about growing up in the burrow.

For the first time since the battle of Hogwarts, he felt a sense of peace. He didn't feel that all was right with the world, because it wasn't, there was still a large hole in the room where Fred should have been. But Harry's guilt and grief was somehow diminished. He had said his goodbyes, paid his respects and seen the relieved looks on the faces of those who just grateful the war was over.

The large pit of depression that Harry had been tittering on for so long had disappeared. Harry could deal with this grief, he could move on. There would always be a place in his heart for Fred, Lupin and Tonks, Dumbledore, Sirius and his Parents, a place where he could always carry them, always remember.

Now, for the first time in a long time, Harry was gently pondering the far off future, not focusing on his mission in the present, or worrying about his destiny, he was free to think about fifty, sixty years down the line, ponder idly without having to make plans.

Ginny shivered in her sleep. Her dress, though breath-taking, was not exactly the warmest of garments. Harry gently lifted her head from his lap, rose and laid her back down again on some cushions, then he took off his jacket and laid the long robe on top of her. He perched on the arm of the chair for a while and just watched her sleeping. A strand of her hair had fallen across her face and was fluttering every time she took a breath. It was fascinating.

Sensing he was being watched, Harry looked up. Charlie was staring at the two of them, a very strange look on his face. He looked both satisfied and defensive, as if he was in two minds about Ginny dating Harry.

He met Harry's eyes.

In a low voice, he said "I'm quite please you two are together now. I could tell she was in love with you from the letters she sent me from school. All the things she said about you. And then Ron would go on about what a great guy you were, how you were best friends. But she's my sister Harry, my only sister. I have to know if..."

"I love her." Harry interrupted. "I've known it for a while. I didn't dare let myself think it over the last year because it would have made it so much harder to stay away. And I had to stay away... Not that she was much safer without me. But still..."

Harry trailed off. He didn't know where the words had come from, but he knew them to be true. He did love Ginny and, now that the war was over, maybe he could start to make a life with her.

"This last week has made me realize that if you have something good, you hold onto it. And Ginny is a far better thing than anything else in this world. I'll love her for as long as she'll have me, and probably for long after as well."

Harry could feel his cheeks burn as Charlie smiled and nodded, seemingly content with his words.

They sat in silence for a bit. Harry didn't really know what to say. The only person he had ever spoken to about his feelings for Ginny was Hermione, and she had largely guessed for herself. He'd never actually said the words out loud before but they had rung inside of him a deafening tone of truth. He was so unused to talking about his feelings that he felt a horrible crawling of embarrassment that seemed at odds with the butterfly's in his stomach he was getting as he watched Ginny.

He coughed, rose and headed for the Garden, needing some air.

As he looked around the garden, slowly changing color in the fading light, he noticed he was not alone.

George was sat on the low wall that surrounded the garden, facing the fields beyond. Harry walked over and sat down next to him.

George wiped his face, sniffing. He let out a breathless laugh. "Can't think how to get rid of these."

Harry looked down. George was sat with his feet resting on a large wooden crate, the triple W of "Wealsey's Wizard Weezes" emblazoned on the side.

"Fred and I planned in case... In case we didn't make it. Through the war I mean."

George's voice was quiet but strong.

"We left instructions in our Wills, made some stuff. I was fun really. The prank slips were Fred's idea..."

George tailed off.

"What are these for then?" Harry prompted.

George sniffed loudly again. "They were... They're a squeal to the little display we put on for our last night of school. My idea. Thought we could go out with a bang..."

"Sounds like a great idea." Harry said consolingly

"No its not." George choked, his face suddenly twisted with grief.

"It was supposed to be a goodbye from both of us! We never thought that only one... that we would be..." George's voice trailed off as struggled to maintain his composure.

"George... I..."

George cut across him abruptly.

"Don't say you know how I feel cos you don't!" He spat.

"You may have lost family and friends but I've lost part of myself. Fred... Fred and I were two halves of a whole. I've never done anything that matters without him. God! Even when I had my first kiss he was in the same room snogging Angelina..."

He trailed off.

George looked up at Harry. "What am I supposed to do without him?"

Harry looked out over the fields in front of him. "Carry on."

George screwed his eyes up tight and looked away.

Harry pushed himself of the wall and bent down to the box. "Fred wouldn't want your life to end just 'cos his did. If anything you have to live twice as hard, because now you're living for him as well."

With a grunt of effort Harry pulled off the lid to the box, and pulled out the biggest firework he could find.

He stood up and looked George in the eye. "So let's remember the good times, and enjoy some more in his memory."

Harry held out the firework to George. For a second he didn't react, then he smiled sadly and took the firework from him. "That was so cheesy, mate..."

Harry shrugged, a slight blush creeping up his neck.

George stuck the fire work in the ground then waved his wand. The fat tube seamed to quiver for a second then shot into the air, showering sparks behind it.

In the sky above them an explosion of red sparks grew into two grinning faces. Fred and George beamed down at Harry, and words appeared around their faces. "Cheer up folks! And keep laughing!"

Harry snorted. "And you said I was being cheesy..."

George threw back his head and laughed, and for the first time in a long time. He sounded like himself.

Then several things happened at once.

First Harry's heart stopped beating, and he could feel a strange tingling on the back of his neck. Next there was a bright flash of green from the fireworks, and before Harry could register what was happening, he was tackling George to the ground.

Harry stared out into the darkness, his wand pointing out though he didn't remember drawing it.

And then Harry saw him. His face was pale and lined, twisted into a vengeful smile. Harry shot two quick stunning spells at the figure, grabbed George's arm, and Disapparated.

He appeared in the Weasleys living room. The loud Crack of his reappearance cause Ginny to sit bolt upright, Harry's jacket falling off her, Mr Weasley woke with a start and Hermione jumped to her feet.

"Death Eater! Outside the boundary wall."

Charlie was the first to react. "I'll get Mum." he shouted before he to Disapparated.

"Harry, what's going on!?" Mr Weasley asked, getting to his feet, blinking sleep out of his eyes and pulling out his wand.

George was shaking. "Harry pulled me to the ground as someone shot a curse at us. I didn't even see him!"

"I think it was..."

But Harry never got a chance to say who he thought he had seen. Because at that moment the outside wall of the Weasleys living room exploded, and with a sickening lurch of De-ja-vu, he watched Ginny and Hermione disappear underneath a cascading wall of rubble.

* * *

Reviews please! Next one will come in a few days.

Jo is our Queen. xx


	3. Professor Harte

**Chapter 3: Enter Professor Harte**

For a second Harry didn't know where he was. He opened his eyes and stared at the scene around him, struggling to take it in. It was like his thoughts were wading through treacle. There was a ringing in his ears, and a million miles away some one was shouting his name.

"George?"

"Harry, get off me!"

Harry looked down and realised he was still lying on top of George. He pushed himself up, still gripping tightly to his wand. He looked around the room blearily, trying to understand through the pounding in his head, what was going on. And then he remembered.

"Ginny!"

He threw his wand to the ground and scrambled forward to the mountain of broken bricks and burning wood, desperately trying to see his girlfriend, searching for any indication that she was alive. But as soon as he reach the rubble, a wand appeared in his line of vision, pointing down at him.

He looked up slowly. He stared past the wand, inches from his face, to the hand holding it, and took in the man standing on the broken remains of the wall, smiling gleefully, victoriously, at Harry.

"It worked." whispered Rodolphus Lestrange. "He said it would work but it didn't seem possible..."

A wide grin grew across his pale drawn face, sweat rolling off his forehead. His eyes were wide and his swollen pupils nearly completely blocked out the thin grey ring of his iris. With a sinking feeling, Harry realised that those were the eyes of a man who was quite insane. "And now I get to make you pay, Potter. I can avenge my master, my brother... my wife."

He walked closer and closer into the room and Harry stumbled backwards, staring at the wand the whole time. He could hear George's quick sharp breaths, thunderously loud in his sensitive ears. Mr Weasley was stirring behind him and somewhere in the distance he could hear shouting.

"Now..." Drawled Lestrange. "Who should I kill first? How 'bout your little mudblood friend, hmm? Where is she Potter? Maybe if you find her for me I'll let the blood traitors live. No? Surely I can persuade you. Cruccio!"

Harry anticipated the curse, and simply hoped that it would throw him far enough backwards that he could reach his wand, but all plans left his mind when the curse hit him.

Because Harry died.

Harry was dead. He had to be, for no person alive could feel this pain and live. His body was on fire, every drop of blood turned to acid. It was worse than when Voldemort returned and he had felt his very soul would rip apart, more painful than any torture curse used on him before. It was like someone had cataloged every time he had been hurt, added it all together then multiplied it.

And then it stopped.

Gasping Harry tried to look up at Lestrange, but found that he could barely move. His whole body was spasimming uncontrollably.

"Bad isn't it, Potter? You have no idea the power I have been granted. I am going to torture you until your mind breaks, like I did to the Longbottoms. But first I'm going to kill your friends."

Harry got enough control over his body to look up at him, and watch as he pointed his wand at George, liking his lips in anticipation, eager for the kill. Harry could see his own wand. He tried desperately to reach it, but his arms were shaking too much and he couldn't even get his fingers to close into a fist.

With a terrible anticipation welling inside of him, Harry watch Lestrange form the words that would reunite George with his twin.

"Avada..."

He stopped speaking mid curse, his mouth lolling open. Lestrange swayed on the spot, staring past George, his eyes rolling into the back of his head as he slowly toppled to the floor.

Harry blinked, trying to make out the silhouette standing in the gaping hole where the wall used to be, blocking out the fading light of the setting sun. As she stepped into the room, a bloody brick held aloft in her hand, Harry realized it was the muggle Charlie had tried to chat up at the funeral.

She dropped the brick and rushed forward to Harry. As she loomed down over his face, slightly blurred by the tears in his eyes, he thought that he had underestimated her beauty that morning, her eyes seemed to be all Harry could see in the world.

"Are you alright! Where does it hurt?"

Harry tried to push her off him, desperate to reach Ginny, to make sure she was all right, but he couldn't get his mouth to work. "Gin... Ginny... Help... Her... There..."

He managed to point a shaking arm at the pile of rubble, and as the young woman followed his finger, her face drained of what little color she had.

"Someone is under that!? Dear Gods..."

And at last she left him alone to fall at the pile of rubble, hands pulling at burning pieces of wood and unbelievably huge jagged stones with an insane strength, trying to dig through.

Finally Harry managed to grip his wand and after a few attempts, muttered the words " _Wingardium Leviosa"._

If the muggle woman found it surprising that the rubble suddenly floated off the ground by its own accord, revealing Ginny's limp and lifeless form by the broken remains of the sofa, she didn't show it. Leaning forward she dragged Ginny out from under the suspended debris and pulled her across to where Harry lay. Harry barely managed to hold the spell long enough for George to rescue Hermione.

Then falling back, he allowed the spell to break and the rubble to crash back to the floor.

Harry rolled over to see the woman leaning over Ginny, listening to her chest.

" _I need to... St Mungo's... I have to..."_

"You're in no fit state to disapparate anywhere!" she snapped, not taking her eyes off Ginny.

Harry tried again to pull Ginny into his arms, desperate to get her to some healers, but the woman, who obviously wasn't a muggle, pushed him away.

She fixed him a hard stare with those blue blue eyes, the color of the sky before dawn.

"If you want me to help her, then you need to leave her be!" she snapped at him, and the force in her voice, added with Harry's inexplicable urge to trust those eyes, pushed him back.

Lying Ginny flat on the floor the woman stretched her hands over the air above Ginny's chest. She took a deep breath, steeling herself, and, as she closed her eyes, she let it out again, slowly.

A warm glow started to leak from her hands, like when the light spills over the horizon as the sun rises. Her face, as beautiful up close as she had been afar, was thrown into stark relief. Harry realized that she was a lot older than she seemed, the soft lines at the corners of her eyes and mouth betraying her years.

The glow from her hands spread over Ginny's body, growing from the patch of light on her chest, over her head, down towards her toes. Harry could see every detail of her dress. Could see the damp red patch on her side shrinking, as if the blood was flowing back into her body.

Ginny grew so bright that it seemed the light couldn't be contained within her. It started to trail across the floor, like vines growing at incredible speeds, reaching towards Harry's outstretched hand

As the glow got further and further up his body Harry could feel the deep ache in his bones, left from the overpowered Cruciatus Curse, ease and disappear.

His thoughts still sluggish, all Harry could think of was how wonderful it would be to become engulfed in that light, like Ginny.

The glow had spread over half of Harry's body by the time it started to retreat. It its wake the pain in the rest of his body seemed to flood back into the healed areas, though less intense than before. Harry watched fascinated as the light retreated back into Ginny, who now shone like an Angel.

With a loud crack that pierced Harry's scull like a nail driven by a mallet, Charlie, Mrs Weasley, Kingsley and Professor McGonagall apparated into the room.

McGonagall and Kingsley stared at the woman in shock.

"Emily," spluttered McGonagall, incredulously "What are you..."

But Kingsley shushed her.

They all watched as slowly the glow that had engulfed Ginny withdrew. Eventually only the woman's hands shone with that warm beautiful light, until they too stopped, and the woman called Emily sagged with exhaustion. She threw her trembling hands to the floor, trying to remain upright, as her shuddering breaths wracked her whole body, like a runner who had just completed a marathon.

Nothing happened. Ginny lay as lifeless on the floor as she had a moment ago, and as the silent seconds dragged on, each lasting a life time, Harry felt an awful dread creep up the back of his neck, chilling him to his core, stopping his lungs from taking a full breath.

"Ginny..." Mr Weasley chocked.

And then with a start, Ginny's whole body bent as she sucked in a rasping lungful of air. Harry, in a fit of mighty strength, dragged her into his arms as she coughed and spluttered, relief washing away all his pain.

"Ginny... Oh God I love you... I love you so much. I thought you were... I thought..."

But Harry didn't need to say anything more, as Mrs Weasley had thrown her arms around both of them, sobbing hysterically.

Another loud crack reminded Harry of his splitting headache, as Ron, Bill and Fluer apparated into the room.

Ron looked around in shock, before his eyes fell upon Hermione, who was lying with her head in Georges lap, and threw himself at her feet.

"Hermione! What happened? HERMIOINE?!"

"She's breathing." George croaked.

Mrs Weasley let go of Harry and Ginny to rush to her husband's side, who was trying to rise. Ginny clung to Harry as she shook, still coughing a little, and Harry buried his face in her hair, breathing her in, holding her as close to him as he could.

"Minister... Professor..."

Harry's head darted up. The woman, Emily, was still shaking with exhaustion and her voice sounded like an old woman's. McGonagall was crouching next to her, helping her get to her feet.

She raised her head, her dark hair falling across her beautiful face, now drawn and shadowed. "You need to get her," she nodded towards Hermione "to St. Mungo's... I... I don't think I have it in me to heal another."

Kingsley nodded and turned to walk towards Hermione, but Ron was already on his feet, Hermione in his arms.

"I'll meet you there." He said abruptly, before turning on the spot and disapparating.

Ginny's shaking was starting to slow, and her breathing was steadying, but she still clung to Harry's shirt desperately, like a drowning man clinging to a life vest. Harry pulled her closer to him, holding her to him with equal desperation.

Emily looked down at her in concern, despite the fact that she was now hanging onto Professor McGonagall for support. "She should probably get checked out too. I'll come talk to you later, once I've got someone to..."

"Oh no!" Interrupted McGonagall, "You're going as well. You could have killed yourself attempting a healing by yourself like that!"

"Minerva..."

"No Emily." This time it was Kingsley that spoke. He stepped forward and put his arm around her waist, pulling one of her arms over his shoulders, her feet nearly leaving the floor.

"You're going." and then he too turned on the spot, disapparating.

Mrs Weasley, Bill and Fleur left with Mr Weasley, all three of them helping him to stay upright.

Once it was only Charlie, Harry, Ginny and Professor McGonagall left in the room, the latter turned to give Charlie a pointed look.

"Mr Weasley. I am relying on you to make sure these two make it to St Mungo's. I would also like you to convince Mr Potter to let go of your sister long enough for him to have that head wound looked at."

She turned to look at the rubble in front of hole in the wall. "In the meantime, I am going to take care of this... thing."

McGonagall was glaring disdainfully at the limp form of Rudolph's Lestrange, half buried in the rubble Harry had levitated. Harry had completely forgotten about the Death Eater in the wake of Emily's entrance.

Harry kissed Ginny's forehead, gathered her in his arms and rose shakily to his feet, Ginny's legs draped over one arm, the other holding her to his chest. She reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed his collarbone. It was the first reaction he had got out of her, and despite himself, he felt butterflies in his stomach as her lips brushed his skin.

"Professor?"

She raised her eyebrow at him, a wonderfully comforting familiar gesture. "Mr Potter?"

"Who was that woman?"

She snorted with amusement. "That, Mr Potter, was Hogwarts next Defense against the Dark Arts Professor. That was Emily Harte."

* * *

Short one I know! The next one should be longer I promise.

Reviews are better than chocolate.

Jo is God. xx


	4. St Mungo's

Chapter 4: St. Mungo's

Harry didn't remember much from his night in St. Mungo's.

He remembered walking through the glass door of the old clothes shop and seeing Hermione being loaded onto a stretcher and levitated out. He remembered refusing to let go of Ginny, and instead following a healer in to a ward with her still wrapped in his arms. He remembered sitting on a bed, with Ginny in his lap and Healers drifting around them, indistinct, their paths stretching out behind them as he struggled to force his muddled brain to work normally.

The only thing he remember with absolute clarity, something he didn't think he would ever forget, was Ginny slipping her hand into his, looking up at him, smiling, and whispering "I love you too."

Harry woke the next morning as a Healer unwrapped the bandage from around his head. "Morning, sleepy!" she whispered cheerfully as she passed him his glasses.

As she cleared away the bloody bandages (apparently he had cracked his scull open the night before) Harry looked around his ward. Mr Weasley was sleeping soundly in the bed to his right, Mrs Weasley dosing in a chair between them. Across the room Harry could see the red hair of another Weasley, who he gathered from the snoring was George, sticking out from under his tangled sheets. In a chair next to him was Percy, looking pale, huge shadows under his closed eyes.

Apart from Harry and the other Weasleys, three others were in the ward, though they were all asleep. Yearning to find his best friends and Ginny, Harry quietly slipped out of his bed, the Healer now occupied with another patient. Leaning against his bed Harry had to pause, because he was quite sure he was going to be sick. His head pounded painfully and even limited movement was making him nauseous. Swallowing his discomfort, Harry grabbed his wand and shuffled across the room, helped himself to a dressing gown to cover the hospital robe he was wearing, and left.

Harry looked around the deserted corridor, suddenly aware of the flaw in his plan. Not only did he have no idea where he was, he also didn't know where Hermione or Ginny were.

He started to shuffle down the corridor, determined to find a sign telling him what floor he was on. He was about half way down the corridor when someone shouted his name.

"Oi! Harry!"

Harry spun around (which brought on another wave of nausea) to see Neville jogging towards him.

"Blimey Neville!" Harry gasped, trying not to throw up on Neville's shoes. "We need to stop meeting here."

Neville grinned in an apologetic sort of way.

"You after Ron, Hermione and Ginny?"

Harry nodded, leaning against the wall for support. "Where are they?"

"They got moved upstairs to Mum and Dad's floor. Apparently there wasn't enough room down here... You sure you want to try all those stair Harry? You look like hell."

Harry pulled a face at his old dorm mate.

Despite Harry's assurances, and great embarrassment, Neville insisted on supporting Harry all the way to the staff lift, where a wheelchair waited outside.

Harry caught the look on Neville's face.

"Oh no! No way am I sitting in that!"

Neville pulled out his wand and grinned at him. "Sadly Harry you don't have a choice. If you don't sit in that chair, you're either going to collapse, at which point I will catch you with it, or I'm going to hex you're legs together so you can't walk. You're choice."

Harry glared at Neville as he lowered himself onto the chair and allowed Neville to steer him into the lift.

Neville waved his wand at the door, said "Fourth floor." then turned to Harry.

"So what happened? Ron said you guys were attacked or something..."

Harry rubbed the back of his head, he could feel the bump where the healers had fused his scull back together. He tried to pull his foggy thoughts together.

"Well, I was outside after Fred's funeral with George, when out of nowhere Rodolphus Lestrange appeared and started firing curses at us."

Harry explained the whole story, including the entrance of the mysterious Professor Harte.

By the time Harry had finished his story, they were outside the "Hywel Dda – Unknown Curses" ward.

Neville knocked gently on the door.

It was opened a moment later by an exhausted Ron.

"Harry!"

"Hello, mate." Harry grinned.

"You look terrible."

"So I've been told."

Ron took the wheelchair, which Harry was rather attached to now, off Neville and wheeled Harry into the room.

The ward was a lot smaller than the one he had been in earlier. There were only four beds, the one in the far right corner closed off with some curtains. Hermione's bushy hair could be seen on the bed closest to him, where she was curled into a ball and sleeping softly. In the bed opposite was Ginny, who was sat up in bed reading the Daily Prophet.

She spotted her boyfriend immediately.

"Harry!"

She jumped out of bed and got about halfway across the room before an old, grumpy looking Healer stuck his head around the curtain at the end of the room.

"Oh no you don't! Back into bed right now!"

Ginny rolled her eyes and proceeded to sit on Harry's lap in the wheel chair. "I'm fine Healer Holloway! I feel great."

He scowled at her and walked into the room proper. "I don't care how you feel!" He came and snatched the chair out Ron's hands and stirred Harry and Ginny back to her bed.

"I've only ever read speculations about Druid healing. We have no idea the side effects of being brought back like that.

"Bed!" he barked pointing at the object in question. Ginny sighed, kissed Harry's cheek then climbed back into her bed, though she kept hold of Harry's hand.

"What do you mean brought back like..."

But the healer cut Harry off before he could ask his question.

Glaring at Harry he said "If you can't get around unassisted, young man, you shouldn't be out of bed at all."

Harry snorted. "Please, I've had worse."

Healer Holloway's eyes drifted up to Harry's scar before he muttered "Somehow, I don't doubt that."

Neville laughed and sat down in the chair next to Ginny's bed.

"I think between the five of us we've probable accumulated enough injuries to last several lifetimes, and that's not even counting Harry's whole killing curse thing!"

Harry rolled his eyes and Ginny gave his hand a squeeze.

"You were saying Neville?" She asked.

"Yeah," said Ron "What are you doing here?"

Neville shrugged, color creeping up his face from his neck.

"Its Mum's birthday. Gran likes to take them to this quiet beach off Swansea. Doesn't like them to spend all their time cooped up here. It's where my Dad proposed apparently...

"A few healers comes with us just to make sure they don't get upset or freak out or anything, but Mum loves it. Takes them ages to get ready though so Gran likes to get here nice and early."

Harry smiled at Neville, who was now staring at the floor, and quickly changed the subject. "What time is it anyway, Neville?"

Neville smiled gratefully at Harry.

"Half six."

"Melin's saggy left..." Ron groaned "I've now been awake 24 hours. That is so not right."

"Stop complaining and sleep then!" Retorted Ginny.

Harry pulled on her arm gently. Looking up at her he asked "What was Healer Holloway talking about just now about you being "brought back"?"

"He means," said a voice from behind the curtain "that Ginny's heart had stopped beating when I healed her last night."

Emily Harte walked out from behind the curtain. And she looked like crap.

She seemed to have lost a stone in weight overnight, there were large shadows under her brilliant blue eyes, and her skin was waxen and pale. She was wearing a rather revealing long white robe what brushed the floor. It hung from the edges of her shoulders, a v-opening revealing her body right down to her bellybutton. Underneath she wore a thin gauze like shift, through which Harry could see, causing him to blush a little, a large tattoo in the shape of a 5 pointed star, each point touching the edge of a circle, spreading from the top of her chest, down across her breasts and ending on her midriff. Although the white robe she wore on top curved to protect most of her dignity, she was showing enough to make Ginny cough in an attempt to hide her giggle. Around her waist was a silver rope that was dotted every few inches or so with many different colored stones. The robe looked like it was too big for her, hanging off her frame, the rope around her middle betraying how thin she was.

Following her was a man who could only be Harte's brother. Though he looked much older, he had the same brilliant blue eyes that you couldn't help but stare at. He also had the same pointed features, but whereas on Harte they seemed striking yet soft, on her brother they were harsh and intimidating. His forehead was creased from years spent scowling, and his lips were pressed into a tight disproving line. He was wearing a similar white robe to his sister, but without the v shaped slit. Around his waist was golden sash, with a simple brown cord lying on top, tied at the front. On it were several beads, mostly varying shades of blue, attached to the excess rope hanging down.

Harte strolled wearily over to Harry and offered him her hand. "We weren't really introduced properly last night. My name is Emily Harte, I'm a Druid."

Harte's brother scowled fearsomely at his sister after this comment. As Harry took her hand, Harte noticed Harry looking at her brother. She turned to observe him too.

She let out an explosive sigh. "Oh what now, Dewi?!" she snapped.

The man simply scowled some more and looked away.

Harte sighed. "Please excuse my baby brother. He had all cheerfulness surgically removed from him at birth."

Ron sniggered and Harte smiled warmly at him. She turned back to Harry.

"You were asking what happened to Ginny last night." She said, sitting down at the end of Ginny's bed.

"By the time you and I managed to pull Ginny from the rubble, the weight of the collapse had already done its work. Not only had she suffocated," at these words Ginny gripped Harry's hand tightly, "but her heart, liver and kidneys had also been crushed. She had stopped breathing, her heart stopped beating, and her organs had started to shut down."

Harry gripped Ginny's hand as tightly as she was gripping his. "So she was..."

"Dead?" She finished for Harry. "No. There is no way to bring back those that have passed on. No, she wasn't dead, but she was very close.

"I'm not a healer, but I learnt the theory of it when I was younger. I poured my magic into Ginny's body and tried to repair the damage."

At this Harte's brother seemed unable to contain himself any longer.

"And it was bloody foolish of you!" His Welsh accent was so thick, Harry would have laughed it wasn't for the murderous look on the druids face.

"Pouring out your magic like that. You could have killed yourself! You're not even trained properly! You could have killed the poor girl in your misguided attempt to be the hero! Lesser _D_ _ryw_ than you have drained themselves dry trying to save the unsavable! What good would you have been to anyone dead!?"

"Will you shut up!?" hissed Healer Holloway. "At least one of my patients are behaving and actually sleeping, and I would appreciate it if you didn't wake her up!"

Harte gave her brother a calm look. "Finished? Good."

She turned back to the others. "Any questions?"

Harry pondered for a few seconds what to ask Professor Harte, but it seemed Ron had been dying to ask a question for a while.

"You're a Druid? Like, a real Druid!?"

"You can't be!" exclaimed Neville, who looked equally incredulous. "The druids died out years ago."

Dewi shot a deadly look at Nevile. "Well we didn't! No thanks to your lot..."

Professor Harte sighed and shook her head as her brother started to rant again.

"The druids have kept themselves to themselves ever since the war. It took us a lot time to repopulate our numbers, though we will never have the same power we had before."

Professor Harte looked resigned and, for the first time during the conversation, Dewi's scowl disappeared and was replaced by a look that was one part sorrow, one part shame.

"The war? You mean the one with Voldermort?" Asked Harry, struggling to follow.

"No." Harte smiled kindly. "No the war my brother speaks of was over 1000 years ago. The war between the Druids and the Wizards."

"I thought that was only a myth."

Hermione, now awake, had sat up in bed.

"Oh for Merlin's sake!" exclaimed Healer Holloway, throwing his hands up in the air. He stormed out of the room muttering under his breath something that sounded like " _Bloody Teenagers_ ".

Dewi looked across at Hermione. "What do you know about it, child?"

Hermione shifted to sit up a bit better. Ron was already at her bedside, pushing pillows behind her to make her more comfortable. She looked up at him with a sickeningly loving look.

Once she was settled she began to speak.

"I read about it in Chroniculus Punnet's "An Anthology of Ancient Magic". He said that very little is known about the war, as wizards destroyed most of the information of it. He thought it was because the wizardry population were ashamed of how they won. All I know is that the Druids struck the first blow, and Wizards the last."

"Rubbish!" exclaimed Harte's brother. "The Wizards left us no choice but to attack them, they started the war trying to draw us into battle."

"For the Gods sake, Dewi!" Harte snapped. "They're kids! They're not trying to blame the war on us, they didn't even know there had been one until a moment ago!"

Harte scowled at him, and Dewi wilted a little under her gaze.

Sighing, Professor Harte ran a hand over her face. Harry was struck again by just how tired she looked.

"Druids," She said slowly, "are tasked with ensuring the balance of the natural world. Ever since humanity started to develop and spread into nature, this has been very hard, as humanity is, after all, a child of nature. We exist to ensure that no creature on this earth suffers unnecessarily due to another.

"Wizards however, are not like normal people. The Druids have always treated Wizards as separate to Humanity. They had the ability to influence nature and, as a result, we have always expected them to help us protect the balance.

"You, however, have not always done this.

"In the years before the war, Wizards were gaining more and more power. They were starting to enslave the people who came to them for help, forcing them into servitude, enforced by their own self riotousness. They ignored their responsibility as guardians of nature, in favor of a life of worship and comfort.

"But not all the wizards in Britain believed themselves superior to the non-magical population. A young witch, no older than 13, came to the Druids, begging us to intervene, to put a stop to the way Wizards were treating the non-magic population. She told us about a new wave of murders. That her best friend had been killed in her bed, simply for not having a magical bloodline."

"Muggleborns..." whispered Hermione.

Harte nodded grimly. "The druids could not simply stand by and watch while this happened, though we struggled to believe the stories of brutality. We tried to force the Wizards Council to reign in their subjects, to try and protect the non-magical community. But they wouldn't listen.

"And then a certain Wizard - his name has been lost in history - decided that the Druids posed too high a threat to the Magical community. He crept into a Druid village one night and killed all the Children with Magical ability."

Hermione gasped, her hands shooting to her mouth. Harte's brother looked a little ill.

"How could they tell which ones had magic?" Asked Ron

Harte smiled sadly and indicated the tattoo on her chest. "Any druid child with magic is born with a birthmark in this shape. It depicts the 5 forces of nature; earth, air, water, fire and magic, all bound within the circle of human will. All those with magic display it as a sign for all, to show our life commitment to nature. In the old days this meant a life of celibacy and learning, in the days when our numbers were so great we could rely on the random births of those with magic. Though now the mark also shows our commitment to our numbers. Once we have graduated from our learning, the birthmark is covered with a tattoo, and we must marry within a year. If you cannot find a suitable match, then one is chosen for you."

Ginny grimaced. "That sounds awful."

Harte smiled at her. "It suits us well enough. The _Gwragedd_ choose well for each person, matching souls that would fit well together. But back to our story.

"The Druids were outraged. A peaceful people by nature, we couldn't understand how anyone could hurt children. The _Arglwydd Dryw,_ our leader, decreed that Wizards had become infected, and we needed to step in, to the restore the balance.

"And so the war started.

"The Druids spread across the country, hunting down Wizards who abused non-magical people. Sadly the Druids were not very discriminating, so fuelled by their desire for revenge. Many innocent people were killed.

"Suddenly the same girl who had asked us to intervene was now begging us to stop. But while she pleaded with our high council, a wave of Wizards were approaching to meet us in battle.

"Our forces far outmatched theirs, as we always had. So we were shocked to see them attempting to fight us in open battle. But when we arrived at the battlefield, it suddenly made sense. The Wizarding forces had gather on a hill, looking down on us while we were moving forward from our central town. It wasn't until we got close to them, that we saw that they were using human shields.

"It was a slaughter. Our forces didn't dare attack in-case we harmed the innocents, and in our indecision was our downfall, as the curses rained down on us. We were destroyed, so the wizards left. Only ten survived.

"As the ten crawled home, they discovered the real reason the wizards had drawn them into battle. While the Druids with magic to defend themselves had been lured out to battle, a force of Wizards had descended on the town and slaughtered the defenseless druids left behind. No discrimination was made. Old men lay dead next to new-borns, women and children had been slaughtered in their sleep."

"The worst moment of our history..."

Harry spun around to see Kingsley standing in the doorway. He moved into the room, gripped forearms with a remorseful Dewi and proceeded to produce a chair with a wave of his wand.

He sat down and rested his chin on his hands. He nodded at Harte to continue.

"Not all was lost though. When the survivors crept into the council chambers, they found a glowing dome of light. Inside was the young witch, who had come to them before, and twenty or so children. Only one child was one blessed with magic, and he clung to the witch, pouring his magic into her, so she could keep up the protective spell that encased them.

"We retreated. The young witch promised to keep up the pretense that we had been wiped out, and in return we promised to watch over Wizard-kind, to ensure what had happened to us would not happen to anyone else."

A heavy silence hung over the people in the room.

"Who was the witch?" Neville asked.

"Well it's obvious isn't it?" Said Hermione. "It was Helga Hufflepuff."

Harte beamed at Hermione. "Well done Miss Granger!"

Hermione smiled and blushed with pride. "Well it wasn't hard to figure out. It's the right time frame, and Hufflepuff was famed for her tolerance, an attitude that was nearly unheard of in those days, also she was credited with having the most contact with the Druids ever."

"At least until Merlin came along." Retorted Harte with a smile.

"Yes, but his knowledge was of the Galic tribes, who were far less secretive."

"That's just what he wanted you to think." Harte said with a wink.

There was a loud bang as the door of the ward burst open, revealing Healer Holloway levitating a tray of food.

"If you're all going to ignore my advice and stay awake then you're going to eat some breakfast. Anyone who doesn't finish their food is going to have a sleeping potion forced down their necks!"

With a wave of his wand, the plates on the tray shoot towards Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny. A small bowl that looked like it was full of fruit floated towards Professor Harte.

"Nev, Lad. Your Gran is looking for you."

"Thanks, Win." Neville smiled and nodded to everyone, then left.

Harry looked down at the plate of food hovering in front of him, and his stomach growled. Sausage, bacon, grilled tomatoes, baked beans, toast and a pouched egg.

Kingsley raised an eyebrow. "Not the healthiest of breakfasts, Baldwin."

Holloway growled a little under his breath as he rolled two over-the-bed trays to Hermione and Ginny. "They're teenagers, Minister. Since when do they need healthy?"

Kingsley snorted and rose from his seat.

"Shall we?" he asked the adults, indicating the curtained bed. Harte, Holloway, Dewi and Kingsley walked towards the bed. Before Kingsley disappeared behind the curtains, he winked at Harry, and muttered " _Muffliato"._

* * *

Let me know what you think!

Added thanks to Jim butcher for inspiring this one.

Jo is God, Jo is life. xx


	5. The Greatest of our Time

**Chapter 5: The Greatest of Our Time**

The four of them found themselves alone in the ward.

"Do," said Ron with his mouth full "wab'ya mala er den."

Hermione shot him a withering look. "I think she seems nice."

"I hope nothing bad happens to her..." Harry muttered.

"Why would something bad happen?" Ron asked.

"Well," said Harry "after what happened to the rest of the Defence Against the Dark Arts teachers, it's not boding well for her."

"What?" blustered Hermione.

Harry blinked at her. "Oh. She's the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. Didn't I tell you?"

"No you didn't!" exclaimed Ron. He leaned back in his seat and whistled. "Lucky Neville! She's not exactly bad looking is she? But I can't imagine McGonagall will like that robe much! Doesn't leave much to the imagination does it?!" Ron sniggered at his own joke. Then he finally noticed the hole Hermione's glare was burning into the side of his skull.

"What?"

Harry chuckled to himself as they started to bicker. It was nice having them back to their old selves.

Harry kissed Ginny's hand. "So why's Neville the lucky one?"

"Oh! I forgot. You haven't seen this yet." She picked up the Daily Prophet she had been reading when Harry had walked in. "Neville said he's already spoken to McGonagall about it."

Harry looked down at a huge picture of Professor McGonagall, standing in front of the great double doors at the front of Hogwarts. Harry felt a pang of homesickness as he read the headline.

 _HOGWARTS WILL ALWAYS BE THERE FOR THOSE WHO WANT IT!_

 _New Headmistress McGonagall quashes rumours of school closure_

 _Early yesterday morning, Professor McGonagall confirmed that Hogwarts would remain open with herself at the helm._

 _Appearing outside the school gates early yesterday morning looking fresh and strong, McGonagall explained that this academic year would finish immediately, nearly 2 months early, and that they would be opening as usual on September 1_ _st_ _._

 _Despite rumors of its closure after the devastating Battle of Hogwarts last week, during which He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named suffered his final defeat, McGonagall assured the Wizarding community that the school would continue to take students as usual. "If there is only one single child who comes to Hogwarts wishing to learn, we will continue to teach."_

 _Inspiring words from a troubled school._

 _Although many in the Wizarding world have been cerebrating the downfall of the most dangerous wizard of our time, there is not a single person that has not been touched by the devastation of the war. Professor McGonagall started her speech by reading out the names of the fifty plus of the fallen, who died protecting Hogwarts, starting with former Headmaster Albus Dumbledore._

 _McGonagall went on to make a surprising announcement. "As of Monday next week, any student who feels that they would benefit from repeating the previous year is welcome to write to me and enroll. We will not turn our back on you. And that applies to those who have just finished their final year."_

The Daily Prophet _managed to catch a forlorn Professor Flitwick leaving the castle shortly after McGonagall's statement. We asked him if he was happy about the news._

" _Happy? It's been a week of funerals. I don't think I will ever feel happy again... but if I do, it will start with the first student that walks through those doors in September. No matter how bad I feel they always think of something to cheer me up. I still smile when I see the swamp Fred and George Weasley set off... Such a tragedy."_

 _Professor Flitwick referring to the fallen hero, and co-founder of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, Fred Weasley. (To read about the ill-fated funeral of Fred Weasley, turn to page 2)._

 _McGonagall is set to read a further statement later this week regarding the appointments of the Defence Against the Dark Arts and Muggle Studies Professors, positions which have been rumored to be filled already. (To read the predictions on who will fill these posts by Sybill Trelawney, Professor of Divination at Hogwarts, go to page 13)"_

Harry looked up at Ginny who was watching him read. "Neville wants to go back to do his last year again, get his NEWTS. Apparently he gave McGonagall the idea."

Harry nodded quietly. The idea of going back to Hogwarts to finish his last year had briefly filled him with a warm glow inside of him. He could go back with Ginny. Fill a whole year with happy memories and catch up on some of the time he had lost with her. He thought of those sunlit hours by the lake, Ginny reading while lying across his chest. Thoughts of evenings spent in Hagrid's cabin, sneaking down to the kitchens, relaxing by the Gryffindor fire. But now as he stared down at McGonagall's stern face, he knew that his time at Hogwarts had come to an end the minute Dumbledore had fallen from the tower. The castle would not be the same now. Rather than try to cling to times lost, it would be better for Harry to savor the memories and move on.

Ginny ran a hand threw his hair and smiled gently at him, as if reading his thoughts. He took hold of her hand and held it to his cheek.

"They mentioned Fred's funeral."

"Yeah," sighed Ginny "they don't mention you though. Ron reckons Kingsley's is pressuring _the Prophet_ to keep it quiet. All they said was that there was an explosion after the wake that injured 3 people and nearly destroyed the house."

Harry moved his chair closer to the bed and leaned in to Ginny's side. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and rested her head on top of his.

They stayed like that for a while, watching Ron trying to spoon feed Hermione her breakfast. Hermione's arms were crossed and there was such a fierce scowl on her face, Harry was sure that Ron would have run for the hills if not for the glint of amusement in Hermione's eyes.

Ginny suddenly giggled to herself and released Harry, who returned to his breakfast. "I've figured out who Harte reminds me of!"

Hermione and Ron looked over at her.

Ginny smiled. "She reminds me of a mix between Harry and Sirius."

Harry choked on his sausage.

"What? Why!?" he spluttered, his eyes watering and his head pounding.

"Well she's got that powerful hero vibe like you, and obviously her brother thinks she's a renegade, like nearly everyone thought Sirius was."

Harry blinked at his girlfriend. "I have a hero vibe?"

Ginny grinned. "Why do you think I love you so much?" and she lent down to kiss him. Ron choked on the mouthful of food he had just helped himself to from Hermione's plate

Hermione smacked his back until he stopped coughing. "Do you have to do that while I'm in the room? It's disgusting."

Harry grinned at his best friend, before kissing Ginny again.

The morning rolled on without much incident. Ginny settled down to read the rest of _the Prophet_ while Harry dozed in his chair. A young healer came into clear the plates and ended up joining teams with Hermione playing a game of wizard's chess against Ron. The two women were putting up a good fight.

At around 9oclock Bill and Fleur came in.

Fleur threw herself at Ginny, smothering her in a tight embrace. "We were so worried! Thank 'evens you are all right!"

Bill kissed Ginny on the cheek. "Mum's still asleep downstairs, but Dad's awake and cheerful. Was a bit worried about where Harry had got to though..."

Harry grinned sheepishly.

Harry looked behind Bill to see Charlie enter the room with a tall woman with dark brown hair and pale skin. Hermione looked up and shrieked, the chess bored clattering to the floor.

"Mum!"

Mrs Granger rushed forward and embrace Hermione who had been trying to get out of her bed.

"Oh Darling, thank God you're all right!"

"Mum," Hermione asked, shaking "what are you doing here?"

"Charlie, came to get me this morning. We came through a fire-place!"

Harry noticed that Mrs Granger's hair and clothes were streaked with soot. Her hand were shaking and there was a maniacal glint in her eyes.

"After you visited, a young witch on our street noticed you doing that disappearing travelling thing in our garden. She came round and started chatting to us..."

Hermione looked shocked. "Mum, that's dangerous!"

"Oh don't worry darling. We told her our names were Wilkins, and yours was Penelope, and you were off to UK for a funeral. She's a muggle born like you and her Parents were killed by Volda-thingys supporters. Poor girl has the scars to prove it..."

Hermione gripped her mother's hand tightly.

"Well, anyway. She gets the _Evening Prophet_ in the morning, you know what the time difference is like. And she came rushing round this morning, waving the paper and asked if it was the same funeral you had gone to that was in the paper. They said an explosion had happened and people were injured. Well we then rang that nice couple we met at Kings Cross two years ago..."

"Mr and Mrs Thomas?"

"Yes, them. They said Dean had just come from the funeral and everything had been fine! But Dean insisted on going to your friend's house anyway to check..."

"And he bumped into me." Interrupted Charlie. "I was at the house with some Aurors. Dean came round, told me that your parents were trying to get hold of you. I got their address of Dean and Portkeyed to them."

Mrs Granger smiled at him.

"He did the disappearing travelling thing with me. Honestly sweetie, I don't know how you can put up with it, it's so uncomfortable! We went to the Australian ministry and took a fire-place to Romania."

"And from there we floo-ed from my office to the ministry here." Finished Charlie.

Mrs Granger squeezed her daughters hand and smiled at her. "Your fathers booking flights to come over..."

Hermione looked very distressed. "Mum, it's too dangerous! We were attacked by a Death Eater! If they knew how to find you..."

"We're travelling with the passports we already have. Your father's work thinks that my mother is sick. We're here only for a week then we'll go home. I lost you for a whole year, Hermione. I'm not going to lose you again."

Hermione's eyes welled with tears. "Mum..."

She threw her arms around her mother, who stroked her hair. "Hush now darling. I'm here now. I'm going to take care of you."

Harry looked away, ignoring the faint waves of sadness and jealousy lapping at his heart.

His brooding was interrupted as a black haired woman burst through the door.

"Have I missed it?" she gasped.

"No Cho, they haven't even started yet." smiled the other young healer.

"Cho...?"

Cho Chang turned around to see who had spoken her name. "Harry?" she smiled and blushed at the same time.

"I didn't realize you were here!"

"Erm, well yeah. Here I am." Harry cringed inwardly. Ginny squeezed his hand.

There was a moment of awkward silence as Cho seemed to be making up her mind. Hesitantly she walked over toward Harry and Ginny.

"I heard that there would be a Druid healing today in this ward. My teacher encouraged me to come observe."

Harry suddenly noticed her lime green robes. "Oh wow! Are you a healer then?"

"Not yet, trying to be though." She smiled.

"What's this druid healing thing then?" Harry asked Cho, but Ginny answered him.

"Some of Emily's druid friends are coming to take a look at me."

Cho gasped. "It was you! I assumed..." She looked towards the curtained bed.

"No, no... It was me."

"Oh Ginny that's awful! Are you feeling alright?"

Ginny never had a chance to reply.

"What's all this racket!?" Healer Holloway had stuck his head outside of the curtains. Cho and the other young healer jumped half out of their skins, rushed to stand together in the middle of the room, standing up straight.

Holloway blinked at them incredulously.

"Miss Chang? Miss Vaisey? What are you doing here?"

"Well... erm..." started Vaisey "Healer Todd told us that there would be a druid healing here and..."

"He did what!?" bellowed Holloway and both Cho and Vaisey winced. Holloway stalked forward into the room.

"I don't care what Todd said, this is a hospital not a theater, and if I am not mistaken you both have an assessment tomorrow that I stayed up all night writing. Why. Are you. Not. Studying!?"

Holloway was now so close to the girls faces that they were leaning back a little.

"Come on now, man!" Dewi had followed Holloway into the room. "You should be proud of these girls. They are showing a healthy academic interest. Turning up unasked to observe something relevant that most of their teachers have never seen? I wish I could get my students to show such commitment to their learning."

"Well..." said Holloway, haughtily observing the blushing girls. "Don't quote me on it, because I will deny everything! But they are my best students."

Cho and Vaisey exchanged incredulous looks and blushed even harder behind their huge grins.

Holloway scowled at them. "Oh don't look so pleased with yourselves! My thoughts mean nothing if you don't pass your assessments! And don't think I'm going to go easy on you just 'cos you're my favorites. I know exactly what you two are capable of and I expect nothing less than exceptional."

"Hear, hear." echoed Dewi, smiling approvingly at Holloway.

The door to the ward opened.

"...very generously donated his fortune to Hogwarts to fund a hospital wing, which is still there today. Hywel Dda may not have been a medical man but he was an intelligent one!"

"Actually it's pronounced Hywel Thah." said a strong welsh accent.

"Really?" exclaimed the short portly healer who had just backed through the door.

He was followed into the Ward by four others. They were all druids like Harte. One of the men looked so old Harry was outstanded that he could walk. He was doubled over with age and leaned heavily on a walking stick. His robe showed the same v-shaped slit as Harte's showing his wrinkled chest and the fading tattoo upon it. His long grey beard obscured the top of his tattoo.

The second and third men were obviously twins, and look about 40. Both wore mustaches, though one had his waxed into a curl, and the others drooped down either side of his mouth. The brown eyes of the one with the waxed mustache were crinkled in amusement.

Following them was a young women and Harry felt his face grow hot.

Whereas Harte's robes had consisted of a top layer which curved to protect her dignity, the young girls did not. She wore a pair of baggy white trousers, the bottom's of which tucked into her flat brown boots. On her top half she wore only the gaze like shift that Harte wore beneath her robes. Thorough it Harry could see everything. The others all wore the tattoo's of a circle and star that marked them as graduated practitioners of magic, her chest showed a faint birthmark outlining the star.

"Girls!" cried the portly healer, throwing an arm over Cho and Vaisey's shoulders. "I see you got my owl!"

The two young healers smiled indulgently at him.

"Thank you for the tip off, Healer Todd." whispered Cho.

"Novices, I take?" asked the old Druid, whose voice Harry had heard earlier.

"Indeed!" Cried Healer Todd smiling enthusiastically. Holloway scowled at him.

"And taking it upon their own initiative to come and see a demonstration of healing magic that is not on their syllabus! You girls must have gone down a treat with our Dewi."

Dewi nodded solemnly. "You would do well to note their enthusiasm, Eira."

The young girl bowed low to Dewi. "Of course, _A_ _thrawes_."

She looked up and winked at Cho and Vaisey, how had just noticed her scantily clad presence, and were trying not to giggle.

" _Dukey_ , is that you?" Harte appeared from behind the curtain screens, causing Eira to gasp and gap at her with a mixture of hero worship and embarisment. Harte was looking remarkably better after her breakfast, two spots of color on her cheeks. She was followed closely by Kingsley, who Harry guessed was blushing at the scantily clad Eira.

"Emily, my child!" Cried the old man.

Harte rushed towards the Druid and embraced him. Once they broke away from each other, he looked at her carefully with his rheumy eyes.

He sighed. "Child you look terrible. You're lucky you weren't hurt."

"Now, now, _Dukey._ " Chastised Harte. "Dewi has already given me a good telling off."

"I should hope so too! So, where is my patient?"

Harte indicated at Ginny.

The old man smiled at her before shuffling over. The rest of his party followed quietly behind, the young girl seemingly captivated by Harte's presence.

The old man sat on the other side of the bed to Harry. Harry held Ginny's hand between both of his.

"My name is Gerald. It means ruling spear. May I ask what your name is?"

Harry blinked at the man, a mixture of confused, amused and worried.

Ginny swallowed nervously. "Ginny."

"Ah." said the old man, nodding knowingly. "Short for Ginevra. A derivative of the old Welsh name Genevieve, meaning 'Lady of the people'."

He leaned forward a little and smile conspiratorially at her. "And one of my favourite characters from the Arthurian legends."

Ginny smiled back at him, relaxing a little.

The old man smiled at harry and offered his hand. "And you are?"

Harry shook the offered hand and introduced himself. "Harry. Harry Potter."

"A pleasure." The old man replied. Harry was suddenly struck with a feeling of gratidute and couldn't place where it had come from, untill he realized that the old Druids eyes hadn't made the usual journey to the scar on his forehead. It was a small thing, but Harry thought he was actually quite fond of the old druid.

"Now," he said to Ginny "myself and my colleagues are here to give you the once over, make sure Emily didn't miss anything when she was healing you."

"Honestly," interrupted Ginny, "I feel fine. Fantastic even!"

Gerald smiled kindly at her. "A side effect of Emily's enthusiastic healing, I am afraid."

Ginny's smile fell a little.

"I told you there would be side effect of your stupidity." Snapped Dewi at his sister.

Harte retorted with something that sounded like " _Vod yn dawel_!"

" _Ni vuthav yn dawel_!" muttered Dewi.

" _Plantos, dioch yn vawr._ " sighed Gerald, placating the siblings.

Harte and Dewi stopped arguing and glared at each other.

Gerald looked round at the smiling man with the curled moustache, and nodded him forward.

"This is Cyrliog. He is an expert in mental healing. What we would like to do is have you go into a sort of trance. Cyrliog will help you enter this trance and will stay with you while we are having a look at you. If you get uncomfortable and any time he can tell us to stop."

Ginny looked up at the smiling man. "Does it hurt?"

"Oh no!" he chuckled. "But some people do find it unnerving having their insides poked at while they are awake."

Ginny smiled. "I imagine they would."

"Okay then. So we can proceed?"

Ginny looked at Harry and squeezed his hand. Harry smiled at her.

"Oh go on then!" Ginny sighed, smiling nervously.

Gerald nodded. "On your mark then Cyrliog."

The curly moustached man nodded and moved towards the end of Ginny's bed. He laid a hand on her forehead and closed his eyes as Ginny closed hers. Slowly and gently Cyrliog pushed Ginny back onto her pillows, and the other druids moved in around them.

Cho and Vaisey leapt forward, notepads and quills appearing in their hands.

The druid girl and the other twin stepped up to Harry's side of the bed. The three druids spread their hands over Ginny's body, and a gentle light seeped from their fingers.

Unlike when Harte had healed Ginny, their light did not spread out and consumed Ginny's body. Instead it just threw a slight light on her body and did not grow.

"Okay then, starting from the head. Do we sense anything?"

The Druid girl next to Harry shifted her weight from foot to foot. "I think I can..."

"Go on child. What do you sense?"

"A... A slight bleed behind the right eye."

"She's right!" muttered the other twin. "It's tiny. I hardly would have noticed it!"

"Hmm... And what would be the side effects of an untreated bleed like this?" asked the old man.

"Minimal." Replied the girl. "In some cases a small bleed can lead to a clot, though due to the location of the bleed a stroke is unlikely. More common side effects would be headaches and perhaps impaired sight?"

"Quite right, quite right. If you would do the honours Flin?"

The light emanating from the twins fingers flared briefly, before returning to the same brightness as before.

"So moving on. Trachea in good shape, lungs excellent. Non smoker. Heart... Ah ha!"

The old man smiled to himself and nodded.

"Have a look at the heart Eira."

The girl next to Harry frowned, her eyebrows furring close to each other.

"It sounds like there are two..."

"That's just Mr Potters Heartbeat you can hear. Block him out and concentrate on the patient."

The girl scrunched her eyes in concentration.

"It's... strange... It sounds like its echoing."

The old man nodded. "A slight heart mummer. Caused by a tiny hole in the ventricle wall. In children they usually heal with time but I'm sure we can help it along."

They continued like this for another 5 minutes, muttering to themselves, every now and again the light emanating from one of their hands intensifying, the scilence inbetween inturupted only by the scratching of Cho's and Vaisey's quills. Eventually the three Druids removed their hands from above Ginny's body.

"Cyrliog, you can let her go now."

The moustached man at Ginny's head removed his hand form her brow. Ginny sighed gently and relaxed from her ridged state, her breathing slowing, as she fell asleep.

The old man smiled at Harry. "She'll sleep for a few hours now."

Harry nodded, letting go of Ginny's hand and reached to the bottom of the bed to pull the sheets over her.

"Well, that's us finished, Healer." Said Gerald, smiling up at Holloway, who towered over him. "But if your students have any questions...?"

Immediately Cho and Vaisey leapt forward and started to bombard the Druids with questions. The young Druid called Eira stepped back from the bed and left her teachers to take the lead.

Fleur stepped up to her.

"So you 're a druid, like Professor Arte?"

The girl smiled. "No one is a druid like _Dryw_ Harte."

Fleur nodded. "I know so little of your ways and your funny words. We should get some tea, no? Then I can talk to you about zese funny words of yours. Arry! You come to."

Fleur swept behind him and grabbed his wheelchair, pushing him towards the door. Eira followed behind.

Once they were out of the ward Fleur wheeled Harry towards the end of the corridor. "Zi English, zey are to prudent. But I am French! So I sink ze robes you and Arte wear are _tres audacieux._ "

Harry turned round in his wheelchair to see Eira smile curiously. "Thank you. But it's just a uniform. I'm afraid that outside of the academy we're just as bad as the rest of the British."

Fleur snorted. "I sink not. When you spend every day wiz your body on show like zat you learn not to blush like my husband when you see someone wearing zat uniform."

Eira shrugged. "I suppose not. I do have a fabulous French dress that I picked up at a show in New York. My father simply hates! It's a figure huger that is completely transparent!"

"Ah..." Fleur nodded her head. "Sophie Albou, non?"

"Oui." Replied the grinning Eira.

The two woman continued to talk about fashion all the way to the tea shop, occasionally breaking into lines of French. Harry considered lunging out of his wheelchair in a bid for freedom when the passed the stairs.

Fleur pushed Harry up to a table and left to fetch a pot of tea. Eira settled opposite him and smiled reassuringly.

"So," Said Harry "you been training to be a healer long?"

"For ever!" laughed Eira. "I graduate next year."

He welsh accent wasn't as pronounced as the other druids, only slight inflections betraying her origins every now and again. Harry wondered if the young Druid had deliberately tempered her accent in a mimicry of Harte.

Harry nodded his head. "Do all druids get trained as healers?"

"No, not really. There's very few of us actually. It takes a very special type of sensitivity to be able to heal a human body, and only about 3 babies in a hundred have it. _Dryw_ Harte does, but she was never interested in healing." Eira's eyes lit up with a fanatical gleam as she spoke Harte's name.

Fleur appeared with a tray of tea and sat down.

"So what is she like, zis Professor Arte?"

Eira lent forward slightly breathless. "Oh Harte's incredible! She's my hero. I've only ever seen her three times, including today, because she teaches in a different part of the academy. She's the principal of the Academy, and they say she is the strongest Druid for 5 generations!"

Harry frowned. "So she's a great duelist?"

Eira shook her head enthusiastically. "Not just dueling! The sorts of injuries that your friend obtained would have taken a team of 10 healers rotating every 10 minutes to heal. The energy needed is staggering. And she managed it in a massive burst of magic, which wastes more energy than it actually uses. Did you notice that she looked thin? That's because she started to burn the fat in her own body to carry on healing. If any other Druid had tried what she had they would have expended themselves before any good would have actually been done to the girl."

Eira leaned back in her seat and took the cup Fleur was offering her.

"Dryw Harte is the greatest Druid, maybe the greatest Magical practitioner in general, of our time."

The two woman were now leaning in, towards each other in a manor that reminded Harry of Lavender and Parvati when they were gossiping.

Flue whistled in awe. "'Ow do ze Druids feel zen? Losing 'er to 'Ogwarts."

"They were in uproar!" whispered Eira. "The majority of Druids still live in fear of wizards. When the _Hethlu -_ that's the warriors of the _Dryw -_ decided to go and protect the _Sivil -_ the humans you call Muggles _-_ during your war, the Druids nearly went into civil war over the decision. The majority of the non-magical Druids felt that the _Hethlu's_ responsibility was to protect them, and not to go out into the world, but the Dryw and those of the non-magical druids who could still feel the call of nature could feel the unbalance in the world, and knew we had to protect humanity from the wizards. Most of the _Hethlu_ are still out in the world hunting down the rouge giants, healing the broken families, driving off Wraiths, that sot of thing. The main reason most people slept easy in their beds during your war was because they knew Drwy Harte was sleeping in the same building as their children..."

Eira looked around, as if checking for her teachers, and whispered to them. "The council was spilt over the decision to send her to Hogwarts. That hasn't happened in a hundred years! The council has always put others first, but your war has them scared. They had to call on the student in the Academy to decide the vote."

"And Arte's students decided to let her go?" Asked Fleur.

"Harte teaches most of them, and she's always taught that the Druids responsibility is to others and not just to the Druids. When they were called upon to vote, they remembered the most sacred call of Druid, which is to protect all children of nature."

"But the war is over." Harry said. "Why do we need Professor Harte to... restore the balance or whatever it was, if the war is finished?"

Eira's eyes widened and some of the color in her face drained away. "I don't know. I'm just a student really. I don't even get to go to the council meetings..."

The druid girl picked up her tea and started to drink it slowly, gazing down at the table. Harry flashed a look at Fleur, and the look on her face confirmed to Harry that she shared his opinion.

There was something the Druids weren't telling them.

* * *

There you go folks. If included a little information on the Welsh I've used. xx 

Harte calls the old man Dukey (but not Ducky, more emphasis is put on the 'u' and 'e' sounds), which is rough pronunciation guide to Tad-Cu, the welsh for Grandfather. Though technically pronounced t-aa-d key, it is not how most welsh speaker pronounce the word, opting for the one word sounding Du-key. This is what I call my grandfather. Generally welsh is pronounced differently by the average welsh speaker than the dictionary guidelines. We call technically correct welsh "BBC welsh" as only the BBC use it.

" _A_ _thrawes"_ means "teacher" in welsh

The brief argument Harte and her brother had, started with Harte saying "Will you be quiet!" (F _od yn dawel),_ followed by Dewi saying "No I will not be quiet." ( _Ni fuddaf yn dawel_ ) to which Gerald says words to the effect of "Children, please!" ( _Plantos, diolch yn fawr_.)

The curly moustached twin is called Cyrliog, which in welsh means curly. His brother is called Flin, taken as a shortened version of the phrase " _ddyn flin hen"_ meaning "grumpy old man".

Sifil, pronounced Sivil is welsh for civilian, and Heddlu is welsh for police.

Review please!


	6. Aftermath

**Chapter 6: The Aftermath**

The next day Harry stood with the Weasleys as they took in the wreckage of the Burrow.

It seemed that the lose of a supporting wall had been to much for the mismatched crocked tower like building, and while they had been gone, the whole thing had collapsed. Mrs Weasley was currently wondering through the wreckage, aimlessly picking at random belongings, straightening some pictures on the still standing fireplace.

Ron was staring in mute horror, his face pale and his clenched knuckles white. George was holding up an even paler Percy, who looked like he might collapse.

Bill put a hand on his fathers shoulder, who was staring at where some of the rubble had destroyed his precious shed. "You can come stay with us Dad. It'll be tight and the boys might have to sleep on the floor but you'll have some where to stay."

"No."

Everyone (bar Mrs Weasley who was now stacking broken plates) looked round at Harry, who was a little surprised to find that he was the one who had spoken so forcefully.

He Blushed slightly. "I mean theirs no point over crowding Bill's when I have plenty of room at Grimauld place. We all fit in there before."

Mr Wealsy shook his head. "Thank you Harry, But we couldn't..."

"This isn't a discussion." Harry said with a smile. "You're my family. Let me do this for you."

As he said the words "my family", words he hadn't been planning to say but felt right all the same, Mrs Weasley looked round, tears in her eyes but a small smile on her lips. "Oh Harry..."

Harry, now blushing deeply, shrugged. "Well you are my family..."

The tears in Mrs Weasley's eyes started to spill over down her cheeks and her smile grew. She made her way over to Harry and pulled him into a tight embrace.

"Thank you Harry, dear. That would be perfect."

* * *

Elsewhere: 1 week ago

 **We are at War**

Dia was in trouble. Big trouble.

He was sat on a hard wooden chair outside his father office, staring at the brick wall in-front of him. Dia was trying to distract himself from the impending doom he was facing, and so was counting every brick on the wall opposite him and was suddenly struck by the fact having brick walls was quite an achievement in itself in the Druid community.

He was an only child, so officially they should be living in one of the canvas tents in the lower, warmer caves, as they had when he was a baby. However, as his father was head of discipline in the Academy, their family had been moved to one of the more modest brick houses in the Great Cavern to accommodate for the amount of visitors he received. As it was, the four bedroom house was entirely too big for the 3 of them, so whenever a Druid who lived in the outside world came to visit, or someone fell out with their family, they came to stay with Dia.

Dia didn't mind. The eccentrics who lived in the outside world always had fascinating stories to tell Dia, all about technology and pop music and giant machines. He even had a record player that batty Mrs Jones, an old Druid that came by every Christmas, had given him. He found it hard to believe the stories she told him about travelling in a flying machine, which carried people in its belly, to a different continent.

Jonathon Rees, a Druid farmer who came by the caves in the autumn to sell his harvest, had brought him a strange music box called a MobilePlayer earlier that year. The small black cube came with earmuffs that Dia put over his ears and could hear music through. Dia took it everywhere with him, and now knew all the words to every song that the music box contained.

He loved living in the Great Cavern. All the houses surrounding his had huge families. Next door, the Baker's house, had 6 children, his best friend Joey, his three sisters, and their cousins Beca and Aaron. Their house was one of the largest in the Cavern. Mr and Mrs Llewellyn lived with their three children, their children's spouses, and their grandchildren. In total there were 14 people living in their house. In comparison, Dia's four bedroom house was tiny.

But not as tiny as Elgan's house. He lived with his parents and baby sister in one of the canvas tents in the lower caverns. Even though Elgan was a _Dryw,_ a Druid Mage, and therefore his family were entitled to a brick house in the upper cavern's close to the Academy, his mother was paranoid about the baby's health, so decided to stay in the warmer lower cavern.

This was fine for Elgan, because the gossip about a certain group of young Druids always reached his parents last.

Dia, Elgan, Joey and his cousins Beca and Aaron were constantly in trouble about something or another. It all started when Dia took Joey, not realizing that his cousins were following, to visit Elgan when they were all 8. Joey had never meet a Dryw his age before, and insisted that Elgan show him some magic. They had proceeded to collapse a small cave, unaware that Beca and Aaron had been hiding inside. Between the three of them they had managed to rescue the brother and sister in time for the adults to come rushing towards the sound of the collapse.

They had been in so much trouble. Dia's father had threatened to expel Elgan from the Acadamy, an impressive feat considering Elgan hadn't even started yet. Da's father had started to write out the expulsion form when _Gyfrifol Dryw_ Harte, a member of the high council and Principal of the Academy, had walked in and embraced Elgan.

She announced that it was one of the most powerful displays of magic in an untrained Dryw that she has ever seen.

Harte had demanded that Elgan start at the academy immediately, a whole 3 years early! Elgan had been ecstatic. For 3 wonderful years, Elgan was the favored student of one of the most influential Council members in the Druid community.

When Elgan, Joey and Dia had been caught spying on the High Council, it was Harte that bailed them out. When Joey had snuck Beca and Aaron to the surface with one of the cave pony's, it was Harte that helped them look for the bolted animal. When they had flooded the entire Academy with sewage, it was Harte that gave them an alibi.

But not even _Gyfrifol Dryw_ Harte could save them now. This time they were in more trouble than they had ever been before.

They had broken the Crystal.

Before the Great War the crystals grew in a cave deep in the Black mountains. The Druids had built their towns around the cave, because the crystals were the source of their power. The crystals, grown from the earth itself, was the link between the Druids and nature. In the Final Battle every crystal in the cave complex had been destroyed, the shards carried away and hid with a magic so strong the Druids lost all connection with them. The only crystal that was left was a tiny shard, taken from the first crystal to grow in that place, worn around the neck of the _Arglwydd Dryw,_ the Head Councillor of the Druids, one of the 10 to survive the Final Battle

Over 1000 years, the tentative magic of the Druids had helped the shard grow, increasing the strength of the Druids with it. The Crystal now resided in the deepest chamber of the Academy, far below the Council Chamber itself. Only the High Council members had access to the chamber and were allowed to ever see it.

So naturally Dia, Elgan and Joey had snuck down there to have a look.

The entrance to the cavern was through a grate in the very center of the round Council Chamber. Elgan had chosen the date for their exploration very carefully, as there was a debate being held on the other side of the Academy, which every member of the council would be attending, including _Gyfrifol Dryw_ Harte and Dia's father.

As the three boys had ventured down the winding stairs, deeper and deeper into the earth, the air grew warmer and more humid. By the time they reached the bottom, they were all drenched in sweat and breathing heavily.

The Crystal Cavern greeted them with a strange blueish light. Small sparkling stalactites hung from the low ceiling. The gentle trickle of luminescent water running down them had carved small streams into the bedrock below, all running towards a deep pool, about four meters across. In the center of that pool was the Crystal. It stood as if it had grown from the pedestal it stood upon itself. About a meter in diameter, tendrils of smaller crystals reached down to wrap around the uneven stump of stone, extending under the clear water, giving the impression of a beautiful alien plant, extending its roots towards the sustenance the water provided. The Crystal itself radiated the same blueish light that lit the cavern, dimming and brightening in a rhythm, like the beating of a heart.

The boys had stood there in wonder for a few seconds, absorbed by the simple beauty that was the source of power to their people.

"Can you feel that?" Whispered Elgan.

Joey nodded mutely.

Dia looked around an Elgan and grinned. "Do you think we could touch it?"

Elgan blinked at Dia in shock. "Dia... The Crystal is the most sacred item on the earth for a Druid. And you want to touch it?"

Dia nodded eagerly and Elgan grinned in response. "Awesome..."

The three boys walked up to the pools edge and gazed down at the water. "How deep is it, do you think?"

Elgan shrugged. "I wouldn't swim in it... _Athrawes_ Jones told me that one drop of the water from the pool can cure nearly any sickness, but three drops will give you a fever. I don't know what would happen if you put your whole body in it..."

Dia frowned at the crystal, out of reach across the water, calling to him.

"I know." Muttered Elgan. " _Gyfrifol Dryw_ Harte's been teaching me this trick..."

Elgan closed his eyes and spread his hands out in front of him. Slowly a disk of light grew before his hands. Elgan moved his right hand in a circle around his left and the disk moved to hover, parallel to the floor, just in front of Dia.

Joey sighed. "I wish I had magic…"

Elgan opened his eyes and grinned at Dia. "Stand on it."

Dia stepped up onto the disk of light. He expected it to fell solid, but instead it bent slightly under his feet. Elgan frowned in concentration and swept one hand slowly across his body. The disk carried Dia gently across the water. Seconds later, Dia was within touching distance of the crystal. He turned to look at Joey and Elgan.

Joey was staring intently at the crystal, his face pale despite the warmth of the room. Elgan had beads of sweat dripping down his forehead, but he grinned encouragingly at Dia.

His hand trembling slightly, Dia reached out and blushed the Crystal lightly with his fingers.

He had only a moment to realize that the crystal was warm, warmer than the muggy air within the Cavern before it happened.

With a flash a blinding light and a jolt of intense pain that shot up Dia's arm and speared his head, he flew across the cavern. He hit the far wall with an explosion of pain in his back.

It took him a few moments to realize the voice screaming in pain was not his own.

Blinking the stars out of his vision, Dia looked across the cavern to see that Elgan was curled up on the ground, clutching his temples and screaming. Joey was on his knees next to him, one hand pressed to his skull, the other trying to pull Elgan to his feet. Joey looked up at Dia frantically. "Help me!" He shouted.

Dia pulled himself to his feet, trying to ignore the needle of pain in his head.

He ran to Elgan and tried to help the boy. Joey and Dia had nearly got Elgan into a sitting position when there was a terrible groan.

Joey and Dia looked across at the Crystal, the source of the noise. A spiders-web of cracks was spreading across the surface of the Crystal, each new path emitting a new grinding noise, until, with the terrible sound of a rock slide, a third of the crystal broke away, and fell into the water of the pool with a splash.

Dia's heart stopped.

Slowly he looked across at Joey, and the two friends knew what the other was thinking. They had to get out of there.

They pulled the whimpering Elgan to his feet, pulling an arm over each one of their shoulders, and fled up the stairs with the terrified speed that only two boys in trouble can manage.

As they neared the top of the stairs, Elgan started to come to a little and managed to start climbing the stairs by himself.

The three boys had just managed to pull the grate back into place and throw themselves into a shadowed alcove when three people came staggering into the room.

 _Gyfrifol Dryw_ Harte was being half carried by her brother, _Athrawes_ Jones, into the room, staggering in behind them was Dia's father.

"...cause the _Dryw_ to all be stuck down at once. And why the others still felt the pain, but not as powerfully." Muttered Harte as she pressed a hand to her skull.

"I think you're right Emily _._ It must be the Crystal." Replied Dia's father.

"Look!" Hissed Harte's brother. "The Seal on the entrance! It's been broken."

Dia sucked in a silent breath.

"We must hurry. If we are lucky they will still be down there..." Muttered Harte.

The three boys had waited until the adults had disappeared down the stairs before they themselves fled the academy.

The two boys half dragged Elgan to his house in the lower caverns. They barely met anyone on the way there, and the few they did see were _Drwy_ curled up on the floor gripping their heads in pain.

Once they got to Elgan's canvas house they met Becca and Aaron, who had been watching over Elgan's baby sister while his mother slept. The baby had been born with the birthmark that showed she would grow up into a _Drwy_ , and so was screaming its lungs out. Becca clutched the tiny thing to her chest, but not even that noise could have roused Elgan's mother from her drunken slumber.

Joey and Dia had stayed long enough to arrange their story with Becca and Aaron, not that anyone had any evidence that it had been them to break the Crystal. They were going to say that Elgan had stayed home all day to watch over his little sister. If Dia and Joey were thrown out of the Druid community it was no real loss. But Elgan had a real future in front of him, a future so much more important and promising than that of a young trouble maker and a baker's boy. Elgan had to stay in the Academy. He couldn't be blamed for what had happened.

It wasn't until Dia got home that he realized he'd lost his music box...

Dia had lain in his bed that night waiting for his father to get home. He had no proof, but he was sure he would have dropped the music box when he had been catapulted across the Crystal Cavern. He knew his father would find it, and he would know that Dia had been the one to break the Crystal.

When the alarm bells of the Academy started ringing at 3 o-clock in the morning, Dia thought that his father would come for him then. But no one came. People shouted in the streets, footsteps running past his house, and Dia could hear his mother pacing anxiously in the room above him. Still his father did not come home.

When the morning bell starting to chime, signalling it was 7 o-clock, Dia got up and went downstairs. His father was waiting for him.

His dirty blond hair, the exact shade of Dia's, was tangled and messy. His face was pale, with ugly red blotches on his cheeks. Huge shadows under his eyes told Dia his father hadn't slept yet. His eyes were hard with barely controlled fury, and in his right hand he gripped Dia's music box.

He glared at Dia and pointed a shaking finger towards his study.

Dia looked across and saw Joey sat on one of the chairs outside the room, his head bowed.

Dia walked quietly across the hall and sat next to his best friend. His father stalked along behind him and swept into his study.

Before the door slammed closed behind his father, Dia got a look at the people waiting inside. _Gyfrifol Dryw_ Harte stood next to a tall man with a thick black beard, lined with streaks of gray. Dia's heart skipped a beat as he realized it was the _Arglwydd Dryw,_ the leader of the Druids. Standing behind Dia's father's desk was a tall stern looking woman who reminded him of his Great Aunt Dylis. She was comforting Dia's mother, who had her head in her hands, weeping. The last thing Dia saw before the door swung shut, was Harte turning to catch his eye, and giving him a small sad smile.

"This is bad..." Whispered Joey.

Dia's mouth was too dry to respond. he started counting the bricks.

After what left like a lifetime, the door to the study opened, and Dia's father beckoned him in.

Dia came to his feet shakily and dragged his feet into the room. The door was closed behind him.

Dia looked up at the adults standing around him, staring down.

The _Arglwydd Dryw_ was the first to break the silence. "There something very serious we have to explain to you _bach._

"Now, we know you broke the Crystal. And as serious as that is, given the current situation you're actually not in trouble for that."

Dia looked up sharply. "I'm not!?"

The old man smiled. "No _bach_. If I'm being honest, your streak for mischief may have saved us all."

Dia stared around at all the adults in the room in shock before the stern looking woman took pity on him.

"What do you know of the Wizard community, Dia?"

Dia frowned at this bazaar question. Everyone knew about the Wizards.

"They are nature speakers, like us, except they don't use their magic for the protection of nature. They're stronger than we are and like to go to war with pretty much anyone so we hide... er…" Dia looked at his father, knowing that he hated any suggestion of the Druids being week.

"We conceal ourselves from them. OH!" Dia suddenly remembered something. "The council wants to ally ourselves with the wizards because they have been badly hurt by one of their wars and…"

Dia stopped talking as he noticed his father narrowing his eyes at him. Dia shouldn't have known that as it was top secret council business and Dia only knew because he had been spying.

 _Gyfrifol Dryw_ Harte coughed to cover a laugh and Dia was sure the Aunt Dylis look alike was trying not to smile.

"Never mind that, _bach_ ," said the _Arglwydd Dryw_ "what about the Crystal. What do you know about that?"

Dia frowned again. Were they trying to get him to confess? They said they already knew he had broken it.

"It's the source of our connection with nature." He said, remembering the stories his mother used to tell him. "During the war with the wizards they destroyed nearly all of the crystals and all that was left was the great crystal which we had to grow our selves."

The _Arglwydd Dryw_ nodded and turned to _Gyfrifol Dryw_ Harte.

"Dia, earlier today when you and Joey," Dia breathed a momentary sigh of relief as they didn't know about Elgan "snuck down to the cavern, the Council were meeting in the Academy to discuss a very important matter that concerned the entire Druid community.

"The wizards have been at war for a while and have only now found peace. We have been helping them in secret, as we always have, but now the Council feels the wizards have grown enough for us to reveal ourselves fully."

 _Gyfrifol Dryw_ Harte smiled slightly and sat down.

"We were discussing if we should come out of hiding for good."

After a moment of shock, Dia felt like his head exploded with ideas. He could leave the caverns. He could go riding under the sun and not fear being reprimanded by his father. He could go in one of the metal flying beast and explore the world. He go and see his favorite bands, live! As all these ideas were flying round his mind, one came to the front of his thoughts. The Wizards.

"But…" He spluttered "…the wizards hate us. They always have! That's why they tried to wipe us out."

Aunt Dylis the Second shook her head. "The druid people are nothing more than a myth to the wizarding world. Enough time has passed for their fear to dissipate."

 _Gyfrifol Dryw_ Harte shook her head sadly. "Obviously not enough fear has left the Wizards…"

A weight seemed to befall the adults in the room and they fell into a silence only interrupted by the occasional sniffs of Dia's mother. She held out her hand to him, and Dia took it, moving to stand next to her so she could wrap her arm around him and rest her head on his shoulder.

"After you broke the Crystal," explained Harte "every _Dryw_ felt an unbearable pain shoot through their skulls as our connection to nature was put under strain. Your father and I investigated the cavern and found your music player. We left the cavern hoping to find out from you what had happened."

Dia father shook his head. "We headed to the Academy to find Elgan to see where you were. It was then that we received word of an intruder."

Harte grimaced. "We raised the alarm, but most of the _Dryw_ were still crippled from the damage to the Crystal. We ran to the cavern, fearing the worst…"

Harte looked a little pale and turned to the _Arglwydd Dryw._ The old man put a reassuring hand on her shoulder and continued for her.

"The Crystal had been taken."

Dia gasped and his mother pulled him closer to her.

The _Arglwydd Dryw_ smiled sadly at Dia. "The High Council tried to track the thief by searching for the Crystals power, but without access to the Crystal ourselves, our magic was not strong enough to penetrate the protections that had been put around it, protections that were distinctively Wizardly in origin."

Dia was flabbergasted. The Wizards attacking them, even as the Druids were considering making them their ally!?

Harte smiled. "So you see, Dia, why we are indebted to you."

Dia frowned and shook his head.

"We are indebted to you," continued the _Arglwydd Dryw_ "because through your actions, we still have part of the crystal through which to use our powers, part of the crystal which was safely hidden in the Pool of Dreams."

Comprehension dawned on Dia and he felt dwarfed by the coincidental series of events that had turned this theft from a cataclysmic disaster to simply a serious problem. Dia had never believed in the Fates, but now for the first time in his life, he wondered if he had been guided to his actions for a reason.

"This theft, Mr Williams," said the stern looking woman "was the action of an individual who opposes the pending alliance of the Wizarding community and the Druid people. Thanks to you, the alliance is still a possibility. But we need one more favor from you…"

Dia's mother started to cry again and clung to Dia desperately. Concerned Dia started to stroke her hair soothingly.

Dia's father looked at him seriously. "Dia, what do you remember about Cousin Nia?"

Dia blinked. Cousin Nia wasn't his real cousin. She had fallen out with her family when she was quite young, so had come to stay with Dia's family for a while. Dia's father had arranged for her to go live with a family in the outside world, but she had come to visit every now and again, and had recently become a regular Christmas guest.

"She had magic but something was wrong with her mind so she couldn't use it properly. She went to go live in a secluded farm to be closer to nature and better control her magic."

Dia's father grimaced. "That's what we told people, yes. It is true that Nia had magic, but it was Wizarding magic. She is what the Wizards call a 'Muggle-born'."

Dia stared at his father. He sighed and met Dia's gaze, there was a deep pain in his eyes and Dia started to get a nasty suspicion in his gut.

"It happens occasionally." Continued the _Arglwydd Dryw._ "We tend to give those Druids who have Wizarding magic the choice of joining the Wizarding world while keeping their origins secret, but most chose to live separate from both worlds, like Nia did.

"But in light of the Alliance it is time our worlds merge. A druid joining the Wizarding world will be a powerful statement to those who oppose the alliance, especially those responsible for the theft today. We can send a message that the Druids are unafraid, that we will not be bullied into submission and that we intend to live in unison with the Wizards."

Dia was definitely feeling uneasy now. His mother's sobs were confirming his suspicions, but he had to know.

"And you need me to…?"

Aunt Dylis the Second smiled a thin lipped smile. "You are a wizard, Mr Williams."

Dia's heart sunk and he felt a little sick. His mother lost all control and started to weep uncontrollably and clutched Dia to him. "You can't…" she gasped between sobs. "My baby…"

Dia's father squeezed his eyes closed and massaged his forehead. "For the sake of the gods, woman, control yourself!"

Dia's mother lifted her head to glare at the adults gathered in the room. "You can't… you can't take him. I won't let you. He's too young to go there alone, he can't defend himself! Besides, he has no magic! It's all that Elgan Boy!"

 _Gyfrifol Dryw_ Harte crossed the room and knelt at Dia's mother's feat.

"Gwen." Harte said as she unwrapped the weeping woman's hands from around Dia and held them in her own.

"Gwen, I have had my suspicions for a while, but they were confirmed when Dia broke the Crystal. Only a Wizard would have cause the crystal to react in that way. But you needn't fear for him."

Harte reached out a hand and lifted Dia's mother's chin, so she was looking at Heart. "Gewn, wherever he goes I will follow. You do not know this, but my mother was born in the Wizarding world. I was born as both a _Dryw_ and a Witch. I can teach Dia the ways of the Wizarding world and keep him from all who would mean him harm for being a Druid."

Dia watched as Aunt Dylis the Second stepped forward and placed a hand on his mother's shoulder. "As will I, Mrs Evans."

She turned to Dia and smiled the same thin lipped smile.

"My name," she said "is Minerva McGonagall, and I am Headmistress at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

She moved from beside Dia's mother to stand in front of him, where he could appreciate her full formidable height.

"We," she continued with a sense of unsung significance "would like to offer you a place in our school."

* * *

So there you are, a little more insight into the Druid world. More on Harte next. xx  
Reviews are better than chocolate!


	7. Nightmares and Mysteries

**Chapter 7: Nightmares and Mysteries**

It was a week since the attack on the Burrow. Harry and the Weasleys, who were currently staying at Grimmauld place, had spent the time clearing rubble and rebuilding. Kingsley had sent a few Ministry builders round to the Burrow to help with the new house. That day Harry had spent many hours shifting heavy trunks and wooden beams as the finishing touches were put to the new building. The next day the Weasleys were moving back in and Harry had to be up early to help them.

It was why it was so frustrating to him that he was sleeping fitfully.

Harry wasn't really dreaming. The 'dream' was just a replay of all his thoughts and memories from the last few days.

" _It worked. He said it would work but it didn't seem possible..."_

Who said it? What had Lestrange been talking about?

" _My name is Emily Harte, I'm a Druid."_

Who was she, really, and why had she been at Fred's funeral?

" _Bad isn't it, Potter? You have no idea the power I have been granted."_

What power? How had that curse been so crazily over powered?

His musings were interrupted by a knock on the door.

Harry rose from his bed in Sirius' old room and opened the door. Ginny stood on the other side, pale and shaking and, for a moment, Harry simply marveled that even with large bags under her eyes, her hair a mess, falling away from the bun on top of her head, and dressed in a pair of tattered shorts and an overly large t-shirt, she could still look so beautiful.

Harry pulled the door wide. "Nightmare?" he asked and Ginny nodded, moving in to wrap her arms around him and rest her head on his chest. Harry sighed and closed the door.

Taking Ginny's hand, Harry led her to the bed, he climbed in and Ginny curled up next to him. Harry pulled the covers over the both of them, then wrapped his arms around his girlfriend.

Ginny had been having nightmares ever since they had arrived at Grimmauld place. Hermione said she would wake up in the middle of the night, crying out for help. She hadn't told them what was in the dreams, and Harry hadn't asked, but the lack of sleep was starting to take its toll.

Harry kissed the back of Ginny's head. "You going to tell me what they're about yet?"

Ginny pulled his arms closer to her. She was quiet for a second then answered.

"Before I would just relive the attack. I'm stuck under all the rubble and I can't breathe. It just gets darker and darker, the pressure getting worse, until I wake up. But tonight..."

She trailed off and Harry pulled her closer to his body and kissed the side of her neck gently.

Ginny took a deep breath. "Tonight I dreamt I had just been pulled from the rubble, and you were holding me. Except Fred and Tonks were there too. You were all around me then Lestrange appeared and... and killed you all."

Harry intertwined his fingers with Ginny's, running his thumb over the back of her hand.

"I'm here Ginny. I'm here and I'm not going anywhere."

Ginny shivered and squeezed his fingers. "It's not just that. There was a little girl there. I've never seen her before, but I knew I had to protect her. I tried to get her out of there but..."

Ginny sighed. "It was weird. Everything was slightly blurry, sort of fuzzy like, but I could see the little girl and hear what you were saying perfectly. You and the others kept saying "Take her and go. It's him! Go! Run! We'll hold him off!" But he just cut you down and came after me."

She shuddered. "What do you think it means, Harry?"

Harry said nothing. He didn't trust his voice. As Ginny had described her dream he had imagined, not himself and the others protecting Ginny, but of a different man standing in front of a different red head, who was trying to protect a small child.

Ginny twisted round to gaze up at him. "Harry?"

Harry brushed an errant strand of hair out of her face and managed to keep his voice level. "I don't know Ginny. Divination was never one of my strong suits."

Finally, Ginny smiled. Even in the darkness Harry could see the love in her eyes. Harry tried to mirror the small smile that was pulling at her lips, but struggled.

"I love you Harry."

Now the smile came easier. Harry kissed her. "I love you too."

He leaned up and kissed her eyes closed. "Now go to sleep. I'll take care of you."

Ginny smiled, keeping her eyes closed, and shifted so her head was lying on his chest, one of her hands burrowing into the folds in his pajama t-shirt. Harry laid his hand on top of hers, and with his other pulled Ginny close to him.

Harry lay back and listened to Ginny's breathing getting deeper and more relaxed, as he tried to ignore the fact that this was the first time he had ever slept in the same bed with his girlfriend. The first time he'd ever slept with a girl at all... His pounding heart and the butterfly's in his stomach weren't helping, and certain parts of his anatomy were reacting accordingly. The fact that he was sure Ginny could hear his hammering heart only increased his discomfort. And with her leg hooked over one of his, he knew she could feel _that_ certain reaction from him.

He was confused and bewildered. He felt guilty and happy and worried and aroused, all blanketed by the receding wave of grief that had overcome him a moment before. He was certain of one thing though, he would not want to be anywhere else in the world than right there in that moment with Ginny in his arms.

Harry took a deep breath and began to recite the Irish Quiditch team in his head. _Mullet... Troy... Moran..._

* * *

Harry woke up as someone pulled open his curtains violently. Ginny groaned and buried her face in his chest. Harry blinked in the sudden brightness and groped around for his glasses. Once the room had come into focus Harry saw a grinning pajama clad Hermione at the foot of his bed, and felt his face flush.

"Erm... This isn't what it looks like."

Hermione's grin grew. "And what does it look like, Harry?"

Ginny opened her eyes and looked around blearily.

"Oh it's you, 'Mione." She mumbled before pulling the duvet over her head, hiding from the early morning sunlight.

Hermione laughed and moved to sit on the bed next to Ginny, shaking her gently. "Time to get up, sleepy-head. I told your Mum you were in the bathroom, but she'll be up to check on us soon. So unless you want her to find you in bed with Harry you need to get up."

"Never!" came Ginny's muffled groan of defiance.

Harry laughed and pulled the covers off the bed, throwing them onto the floor. Ginny pulled her legs up to her body and shivered. She opened her eyes to glare at Harry. "Traitor..." she muttered.

Hermione pulled Ginny up to a sitting position. Harry leaned across and kissed her forehead lightly. "See you at breakfast, grumpy."

Hermione flashed another smile at Harry as she pulled Ginny to her feet, guiding her out the room. There was a muffled thump as Ginny collided with the door frame.

"Fucking hate mornings..." she muttered to herself as she left, rubbing her head.

* * *

Fifteen minutes later Harry walked into the kitchen to find Mr and Mrs Granger eating their breakfast. Mr Granger was reading the Times and Mrs Granger Witch Weekly. Mr Granger looked up over his paper and smiled cheerfully at Harry.

Kreacher was nowhere to be seen. He was generally avoiding the Grangers, so that he didn't have to interact with the Muggles at all. Harry thought it was probably a good thing and had not pressed the house elf to do anything.

"Morning Harry!" Chimed Mrs Weasley cheerfully from the stove.

"Morning."

Mr Granger closed his newspaper and passed it to his wife, who immediately turned to the crossword.

"Could you pass me the Prophet, please Harry."

Harry took a mouthful of pumpkin juice (a decision he immediately regretted) as he glanced at the front page of the newspaper. Harry sprayed the table in pumpkin juice as he spluttered in shock.

The front page of the prophet was taken up with a huge picture of his own face under the headline "POTTER DOES IT AGAIN!"

A bit below that was a photo of Harte standing next to Kingsley with the headline "THE DRUIDS ARE BACK!" sprawled above it.

Harry was quickly aware that Mr Granger and Mrs Weasley had hurried to stand behind him as he ripped open the paper.

 _POTTER BACK ON TRUE FORM!_

 _Rodolphus Lestrange_ _apprehended by the Boy-Who-Lived_

 _Ministry officials announced last night the capture of notorious Death Eater_ _Rodolphus Lestrange, responsible for the torture and subsequent permanent incapacitation of ex-Aurors Alice and Frank Longbottom._

 _Details latter emerged from a ministry insider that the capture was directly linked to the explosion that disturbed the funeral of beloved inventor Fred Weasley, of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes._

" _Potter was there. Thanks to his quick thinking, there were no fatalities and Lestrange was apprehended quickly."_

 _It is unknown why Lestrange was at the family home of the Weasleys that night. It is possible they were made targets by the families well known anti dark-magic beliefs and connections to the secret society known as the Order of the Pheonix. It has been speculated that Lestrange could have been drawn there by the presence of, not just the Weasley family, but also by esteemed war hero, Harry Potter. Potter is a close friend of the Weasleys and had attended Fred Weasleys funeral earlier that day._

 _What is more incredible was the company Potter was keeping when he was brought into St Mungo's later that night (turn to Page 3)._

" _One of the patients brought in had been very badly hurt. The druids just stuck their hands over her and healed her!" Described a St Mungo's healer. "It was amazing, it far surpassed any display of healing magic I have ever seen. Without the druids I am certain the patient would have died."_

 _No comment yet from the hero of the hour, Harry Potter. Lestrange is currently in custody in the ministry of magic awaiting trial._

The rest of the article was a summary of Harry's achievements, which he quickly ignored and turned the page to see a huge picture of Harte, still looking too thin, standing next to Kingsley, smiling modestly and nodding to the crowd of reporters taking pictures.

 _DRUID EMILY HARTE APPOINTED HOGWARTS TEACHING POSITION_

 _Headmistress McGonagall announces at last that the Defence Against the Dark Arts post has been filled_

 _The magical community was rocked last night by the reappearance of the long thought extinct Druids. Headmistress McGonagall and the Minister for Magic held a press conference, revealing to the world the presence of Druids once again._

 _According to the pre prepared statement, the Druids reveled themselves to the members of the secret society known as the Order of the Pheonix towards the end of the war with He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named. The Druids had apparently been aiding in the mass evacuation of Muggle-borns and their families, who found their lives under threat by You Know Who's reign._

 _The Druid, Emily Harte, who reveled herself and her people, made this statement._

" _For many years the Druids have watched the Wizarding community from a distance. During Voldemort's rise to power, both recently and 16 years ago, we did what we could to protect the innocent and the ones he prosecuted. This last year has shown us that the time for secrecy and moving in the background is over._

" _The Wizarding world has suffered a terrible blow. It is the duty of the Druids to restore the balance of nature, to protect the children of mother earth. We are here now to help you heal, and we knew we could not do that from hiding._

 _We are also here to give a warning. The horrors inflicted upon your own people will not be tolerated. You, our brothers in the art of magic, must never allow this to happen again. We will not tolerate it."_

 _This mildly threatening statement incurred a mixture of reactions in the magical community. Augusta Longbottom, grandmother to hero of the Battle of Hogwarts, Neville Longbottom, said this outside her home last night._

" _The legends always said the druids were a powerful force for good in the world. Perhaps Voldemort's doomed supporters will think twice before going up against them! After the last year, I think we could all do with a few more friends in this world…"_

 _Not everyone was so favorable in their opinions of the Druids return. Robert Chilcotte spoke to us outside his Devonshire home._

" _They say they're here to help us but you'll notice they only turn up after the war was finished! And then one just turns up with Harry Potter at St Mungo's? Harry Potter was the one who captured the Death Eater, a wizard! Not a druid. We don't need their help!"_

 _No matter where you stand on the druids, I for one am immensely jealous of the students of Hogwarts. Though I am glad I am not Headmistress McGonagall! The inevitable flood of letters from concerned parents is going to be considerable._

Harry lent back and blinked at the paper in shock.

Mr Granger whistled, as he took the paper. "That's quite a whirlwind your Emily's kicked up!"

Mrs Weasley wrung her hands, clearly worried. "I do hope Kingsley has thought this through. Appointing a Druid as a Professor…"

Harry blinked up at her indignantly. "She saved Ginny's life!"

Mrs Weasley frowned down at him before smiling and nodding her head. "No, you're right Harry. Of course we can trust her."

The kitchen slowly filled with the other Weasleys over the next few minutes, and the two articles quickly became to focus of conversation. Ron and Percy ended up in a heated debate over the articles in the Prophet. Harry didn't even care that Percy was saying that the Paper was hero worshiping him in order to distract from the real stories, mostly because he agreed with him but also because it was wonderful to see Percy so animated again. Ginny and Hermione, who had briefly argued quite fiecely over the articles were now pointedly ignoring them. Instead they were pouring over the Times and discussing West End Musicals with Mr and Mrs Granger. Apparently they were all going to go see one that night to wish farewell to Mr and Mrs Granger, who were heading back to Australia, after they had finished at the burrow.

At some point near the end of breakfast, Fleur wondered into the kitchen. She spotted Harry and made her way over to him, bending down so her mouthwas by his ear.

"'Arry," she began, her voice low. "Will you come upstairs wiz me?"

"Course." He muttered back, eyes raised in confusion. She stood and led the way out of the kitchen. On his way to the door he noticed Ron was looking at him. He raised an eyebrow, and Harry shrugged in response.

Once in the corridor Harry dared to raise his voice a little, still quite enough not to wake the portraits. "What's this about, Fleur?"

She grimace back at him. "Kingsley just arrived. He wishes to speak to you in private. Zat is all I know."

Harry followed her up the stairs feeling particularly confused.

Fleur lead him onto the dining room on the ground floor, inside was Kingsley and Bill, talking quietly to each other. Harry only caught the tail end of the conversation.

"… a terrible risk, Kingsley. If anyone found out!"

Kingsley frown at Bill. "Well they're not going to find out, are they Bill?"

Bill scowled. "You need to be careful, Kingsley!"

"I will." Kingsley said through gritted teeth, his tone indicating that the conversation was over.

"Harry." Kingsley greeted him.

"Minister." Replied Harry with a smile.

The interim Minister for Magic grimaced back. "Don't you start as well! I still can't get used to that title."

Harry laughed gently. "What's this about?"

"Well…" Kingsley sighed in his deep reassuring voice. "It's a bit complicated. Why don't you sit down?"

Harry did so, Bill moved round the table to sit opposite him and Kingsley took his seat next to Harry.

Harry noticed, for the first time, several files on the table.

Kingsley picked out one of the files and tossed it across to Harry. It was a report on a crystal of some kind.

"That is an Auror report on a magical artifact owned by the druids." Kingsley said. His voice low and serious. "Emily came to us not too long after Voldemort fell to ask us for help."

Harry opened the file and read over the top sheet. "It was stolen?"

Kingsley nodded. "And the Druids are convinced that it was wizards. They have a deep mistrust of us, they believe us capable of anything. The only wizards they seem to trust are the Order and... well… you."

Harry blinked in shock. "But I've barely met any Druids, only Harte and the ones who came to visit Ginny."

Kingsley smiled ruefully. "It would seem that defeating the greatest dark wizard of all time can get even the most doubting of people to put their faith in you."

Harry blushed a little and changed the subject.

"Kingsley, I was reading the prophet just now, and in the statement Harte made it said that the Druids reviled themselves to the Order last year?"

Kingsley nodded but to Harry surprise it was Bill who responded.

"All through the last year, the Order was trying to get Muggleborns out of the country. Eventually we became aware of a group known as "the Circle" who were picking up muggleborns and smuggling them out to France. To start off with we suspected them to be Death Eaters in disguise, but Remus said he knew one of their Members, a woman he called White."

Kingsley reached down and placed a familiar object onto the table. "I have the memory of our first meeting if you are interested."

Harry eyed the Pensieve. "Is that..."

"Dumbledore's Pencieve?" Finished Kingsley. "No this one belongs to the ministry, for the use of the minister of magic."

Harry nodded. "You might have to come with me. I've not quite got the hang of leaving memories yet…"

Kingsley smiled and nodded. "On three?"

As Kingsley counted down, Harry leant forward until he was falling into swirling clouds of memory.

Suddenly darkness surrounded Harry and the swirling clouds resolved themselves to show a dockyard, bleak and gloomy in the steadily falling rain. He looked around and spotted the real Kingsley standing over a blurred outline of a crouching man.

"Here I am, Harry. I had a disillusionment charm on me at the time. Have a look down there." Kingsley pointed towards the water front.

Harry squinted at the docks until he spotted a figure, fidgeting nervously in the dark while leaning against a stack of boxes. He was twirling his wand in a flashy way that suddenly reminded Harry of someone.

"Justin!?" Harry spluttered.

Kingsley looked surprised "You know him?"

"He was in my year at school, in Hufflepuff."

Kingsley nodded. "Of course you would know him. It was Justin that first came to us to tell us about the Circle. He arranged a meeting and the Order tagged along to see who turned up."

Kingsley pointed to a stack of crates on the far side of the dock. "Lupin is in cover over there," he turned to point at a warehouse overlooking the waterfront "and Bill is on the roof of that building."

The wind started to pick up and the blurry outline of memory Kingsley shivered. The real Kingsley smiled.

"If I'm not mistaken, Bill is about to get blown off the roof."

Sure enough the wind picked up to become a full scale gale and the unmistakable voice of Bill Weasley drifted through the night, swearing vividly.

Suddenly a bright orb of light started to glow a few feet from Justin, who jumped and crashing into the crates behind him.

"What is that?" bellowed Harry over the wind, but Kingsley shook his head.

"Just watch."

The orb started to expanded rapidly turning into a disk, stretching from the floor to just above head height. To Harry's great surprise, from it stepped eight individuals. As soon as the last person had stepped through it, the disk disappeared, taking the wind with it.

After a moment of silence a familiar female voice called "Justin, is that you?"

Justin stepped forward looking shaken. "Yeah. You're late, White."

A tall hooded figure detached herself from the small group to trade grips with Justin. "Apologies. We were on our way when we came across some Death Eaters attempting to take two muggleborn children from their parents. We had to duel."

Harry looked at the group that had appeared on the dock. Harry realised with a jolt that he recognised one of the group, Ernie McMillan, standing with his back to the rest of the group alongside another boy Harry didn't know, their wands drawn, eyes dimed with exhaustion but still scanning the surroundings. A woman in healers robes stood with them, currently tending to a policeman, obviously a muggle in his black uniform, whose lip was bleeding. In the man's arms was the small floppy shape of a young boy, maybe his son, and next to him was a woman in a dressing gown, coat and wellies holding the hand of a girl just old enough to be starting Hogwarts.

Justin made a disgusted snort. "That's outrageous. Do they think they can just kill off all the mugleborns in the country?"

White nodded gravely. "Our intelligence suggests this is the Dark Lord's next stage in his plan. We're having to make contact with potential targets all over the country, try to remove them before they are noticed. Sadly by the time we know about a child developing power's so do the death eaters."

Justin shook his head. "I'm afraid you're fighting a losing battle."

White tilted her head, her face still obscured by the shadow of her hood. "But fight it we must, otherwise he has already won. We must fight or there will be nothing to live for. "

"White!" hissed the unknown exhausted teenager. "We have company."

Harry looked at Kingsley who was gazing at White with a strange look on his face. "Kingsley, who is that?"

Kingsley smiled without looking away. "You'll see."

Harry, who had a sneaking suspicion who the mysterious woman was, looked back at the group to see that White had drawn a wand and was staring over to where Remus was hiding. The group were now huddled behind her, Ernie and the other boy.

"Justin," White hissed "were you followed?"

Justin went very pale and stammered "I… I don't think so."

The woman straightened with shock, whipping round to stare at him.

"You're lying." She said incredulously. "Who followed you here?"

Justin stood starring, his own wand in his hand, spluttering incoherently. White eyed him for a moment before shouting "Show yourself!"

After a few agonising moments Lupin appeared, moving slowly forward, his wand held casually at his side. Harry felt a stab of grief at the sight of him. His clothes were as worn and tattered as usually but there was more light in his eyes than Harry had seen that night Remus had come to Grimauld Place, more like how he'd seen him after Teddy had been born.

Ernie blinked and lowered his wand. "Professor Lupin?"

Remus smiled, his hands spread at his sides. "Hello Ernie, what are you doing here?"

Justin suddenly spun round, recognizing his fellow housemate for the first time. Ernie and the other boy lowered their wands, but White kept hers trained on Remus. She paced forward cautiously.

White reached up a hand hesitantly and pulled back her hood. Lupin gasped. Harry looked over her face and nodded to himself, his suspicions confirmed, though he couldn't understand why Remus looked so shocked.

Remus's face was frozen with surprise, but he eventually managed to choke out the word "E… Emily?"

Harry whipped round to stare at Kingsley. "How does Remus know Harte?"

Kingsley smiled patiently. "Just watch, Harry."

Harry looked back at the dock to see White smile coldly at Remus. "What was the last thing I said to Remus Lupin before departing Wales?"

Remus blinked, confused before realization spread across his face, quickly followed by a smile. "Balance is not just some mystic philosophy that applies to the universe. It is a state of personal being, the only way to achieve true happiness."

Harte's smile suddenly warmed by several degrees and she laughed. "Do I really sound that preachy?"

Lupin laughed, a sound Harry had rarely heard. "Yes. It's infuriating. How long has it been since we last saw each other?"

Harte grinned. "Six years, four months. Give or take a week or two. Do I pass the test?"

Remus stepped forward and embraced her briefly. "You do indeed."

White stepped back, her hands still on Remus' arms and looked around. "I gather the rest of the Order is here?"

Remus smiled ruefully, but looked a little surprised at the mention of the Order none the less. "Not all of us, obviously. Kingsley you can come out, she's on our side!"

Harry noted that his old professor made no mention of Bill. The memory Kingsley strode forward, undoing his disillusionment charm as he went. The real Kingsley motioned Harry forward and they approached the dock. As Harry got closer he could hear the purr of a boats engine in the distance.

As memory Kingsley reached Remus and Harte he held out a hand.

"Kingsley Shackelbolt." He muttered seriously.

Harte took the offered hand causing Memory Kingsley to stiffen slightly, a slight frown creasing his forehead.

Heart smiled, her eyes dancing with amusement, perhaps at Kingsley formal tone.

"Emily Harte." She replied with mimicked formality.

Remus leaned forward. "What on earth does the Circle want with all these muggle-borns, Emily? How long have you been shipping them off to France?"

Harte shrugged. "It was Olympe's idea. We worked with her when she was younger and she got in contact with us. She knew we were hiding Muggleborns, and put it to us that we smuggle them out to France. Beauxbatons is as safe a place as any, not even the Circle knows where it is."

Remus looked worried though. "But you're taking such a great risk getting involved, what does the Circle care for Muggleborns?"

Emily smiled in a kindly sort of way at Remus. "It is not the Circles only mission to guide young werewolves away from trouble, Remus."

Remus smiled a small sad smile at this. "You're not going to start bleating on about balance are you?"

Emily's smile deepened slightly but also seemed to gain a mournful quality to it. "You've never listened before, Remus, why should I assume you would start now."

Lupin worry lines disappeared and he smiled, reached over and gripped her hand. "I've missed you, Emily. I really have, even if you are one of the most infuriating women I know."

A small boat had appeared at the dock and the young wizard leapt forward to secure it to the jetty. Ernie stood with his wand raised, pointed at the inhabitants of the boat. Rather than looking alarmed, the three new comers chatted to Ernie with an air of routine familiarity.

Harte glanced over her shoulder, turned back to Remus and squeezed his hand with both of hers. "There's the transport. You have no objections to us moving ahead?"

Remus smiled and shook his head. "None at all."

She turned to Kingsley now, smiling. "And you, silent handsome stranger? Do you protest?"

Harry coughed and tried to cover a grin. He looked over at the real Kingsley who was looking a little embarrassed. "She really is a terrible flirt." Kingsley offered as way of an explanation. Harry tried not to let his grin widen, and failed.

Memory Kingsley turned to look at Remus, meeting his eyes for a long time. "If Remus vouches for you, then I have no protest. I only request that you take Justin with you. He knows how to reach me once he's safe."

Emily gazed at Kingsley for a long time with a calculating look, before turning to walk over to the jetty. Once she reached the boat she held out her hand and one of the group took it. A dim but warm glow seemed to issues from between their palms and once it faded Ernie lowered his wand. The two young wizards proceeded to usher the small family onto the boat. Ernie beckoned at the two adults.

As they reached the boat, the young mother turned to envelope Emily in a crushing hug. "You saved our lives. I have no idea what's going on but I know those men would have killed us. What could we ever do to thank you?"

Emily pushed her off her gently and whipped at the muggle woman's tears. "You can take care of your children. Where you are going, they will be able to teach them how to control their magic, but you can teach them not to fear it. Teach them it is a gift as well as a responsibility."

The woman nodded and pulled her daughter close. "We will. I promise."

Emily stepped aside briefly while Justin, who had just finished embracing Ernie, got on the boat. She bent down at this point so she was at eye level with the young girl. "And you, Claire, I want you to promise me that you are going to take care of your parents and your brother. Can you do that for me?"

The girl nodded but glanced back at Kingsley and Lupin wearily. "Those bad men who tried to take Billy and me, those wizards, are there more of them?"

Emily smiled grimly and nodded.

The girl bit her lip. "But, if there are more baddies how are you going to beat them. You said there weren't enough good wizards to beat them? Shouldn't I stay here to help you?"

Emily smiled a little more warmly now. "But that's why we are sending you somewhere safe Claire. We need as many good witches and wizards as possible to fight these bad men. For now I need you to just concentrate on keeping your family safe, and when you are old enough you can come back and learn to fight them too."

The girl's back straightened a little at this. She threw her arms around Emily's neck briefly before getting onto the boat and settling in-between her mother and Justin, her eyes blazing.

Lupin stepped forward to exchange a few words with Justin. The healer woman traded grasps with the muggle parents, gave one of the wizards now accompanying them a quick hug, before she untied the boat from the jetty. Then, with a gentle purr as the engine sprang into life, the boat disappeared into the darkness

* * *

Hugs and kisses to Jo. xx

Please review!


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